Andamooka is a town approximately 600 km north of Adelaide in the South Australian outback. Opal was discovered in the region in the late 1920s, and the town developed out of the scattered miners' camps which established in the area. An Andamooka Opal Fields Post Office was not opened until 13 January 1947, and was renamed Andamooka in 1990. The Andamooka Opal was discovered in and named after Andamooka.
The road into Andamooka was sealed in the 1990s, but the remaining roads in the town are still unsealed.
Andamooka is the largest town administered by the Outback Areas Community Development Trust instead of a local government area. It is in the state electoral district of Giles and the federal Division of Grey.
Housing
With the influx of work, an expansion of the mine at Olympic Dam, more houses are being built and transported in. Many of the town's houses came from Woomera, a mostly military town that supported the Woomera Test Range and Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar. Not many people live in the traditional dugout style houses of old, although remnants of the town's past remain in the main street, with the cottages of old miners dug into the side of the hill in the main street still standing.
- Category:
- Local business