Coober Pedy Parish |
| Photos of the 25th Celebrations of the Catacomb Church |
| Coober Pedy is an opal mining and tourism town on the Stuart Highway in the far north of
South Australia. It is part of Central Australia, with hot dry summers and mild dry winters (usually). The parish
includes the region of Oodnadatta, Marla and Mintabie and the the huge cattle and sheep stations found in this area.
Located in Central Australia they experience hot dry summers and mild dry winters (usually). Coober Pedy has a population of about 3,500 and has a busy social and community life. The town provides the services for this vast region. This means that every year many government employees leave as their contracts finish and new people arrive. There are three churches with clergy, plus five others. The Catacomb Anglican Church caters for approximately six Protestant denominations with approximately 50 locals including children, all meeting underground. Peter and Joy Palmer commenced ministry on the 2nd December and are looking forward to a very different life style. A story for Tourists It was a job of the local Mine Rescue Squad to get people out of the mineshafts when
they fell in. Not that they wanted people to fall in! A head appeared at the top of the shaft. "You should have read the sign," it
said. "So I should have," replied the tourist, "but it's a bit late for that now." The head disappeared, and presently the Mine Rescue Squad arrived. They were the ones who put the sign there in the first place. But they didn't say, "You shouldn't have done that", "We told you so", or "Now get yourself out". They just got on with the job. One of their number was lowered down the shaft on a winch with a stretcher. He came down alongside the tourist, strapped up his broken limbs, and attached him onto the stretcher. Then he got not just alongside the tourist but right underneath him, at the bottom of the shaft, to lift him up. The rescue-man stayed down in the pit, so the tourist could go up on the winch. As he reached the light at the top of the shaft, and the strong arms that would lift him away to healing and restoration, he thought of the one who had saved his life, down in that joyless pit. To Think about... All of us are tourists in this life. Which way are you heading? WHY STAY IN THE PIT?
The Communion Table made from an old miner's winch and bucket Contact : Peter and Joy Palmer PO Box 266, |
Copyright © 2008 Bush Church Aid Society of Australia |
That’s why they put the notices up. To let people know what's good for
them. "Danger deep shafts", warned the notices. "Rubbish!" said the tourist. "That's only the miners
trying to stop me getting at their precious opal! The shafts aren't there at all. Or if they are, they can't be all
that bad. They don't scare me!" He strode defiantly over to the nearest white mound, and promptly fell down the
20-metre mineshaft. He was lucky. Dazed and winded, but still alive, he found that both his arms and legs were broken.
He started to yell for help.
