Help LIGHTNING RIDGE POLICE BUSH SAFARI

help to build the AUSTRALIAN OPAL CENTRE

A million people - $30 each - the most exciting community project in Australia!

The people of Lightning Ridge in outback NSW are building an incredible place for the people of Australia and the world: an extraordinary underground building filled with gemstones and fossils, glittering treasures from the earth and stories of the people who found them. The Australian Opal Centre will foster education, research, tourism, economic and cultural development in outback NSW, Queensland and South Australia, protect rare opalised fossils that are an endangered part of Australia's natural heritage and promote Australia's magnificent national gemstone, Opal. And it will be housed in a remarkable energy-efficient building, designed by two of Australia's greatest architects, that will draw people from all around the world.

Click DONATE to give now and help Lightning Ridge Police Bush Safari to support the Australian Opal Centre – the most exciting community project in Australia!

About Lightning Ridge Police Bush Safari

Lightning Ridge Police Bush Safari is a charity organisation based in the opal mining community of Lightning Ridge in northern New South Wales, Australia. Every year in September-October, 50-90 vehicles set off for a 10-13 day trek across the Australian outback, in a meandering tag-along adventure enjoyed by people of all ages, at the same time raising money for needy community organisations in Lightning Ridge. 

Participants come from all walks of life and all parts of the country. Organised by members of the Police, Ambulance, SES and Lightning Ridge community members, the Bush Safari is not a race, but a chance to get into the outback with a full support team and enjoy some of what this great country has to offer.

In June - July 2012, there will also be an extra trip to Cape York Peninsula, travelling through some wonderful country: remote rivers, homesteads, rainforests and savannah, abandoned mining towns, Aboriginal communities, beaches and the Torres Straight Islands. Half the money raised will go to the Lightning Ridge SES rescue service and half toward construction of the Australian Opal Centre.

Visit the Lightning Ridge Police Bush Safari web site to find out more or register for the Safari!

More about the Australian Opal Centre

At the Australian Opal Centre you will be able to marvel at precious opal gemstones and the world’s greatest collection of fossils made of opal – rare relics from the Age of Dinosaurs - and share in the stories of resilience, ingenuity, mateship and humour for which the opal fields are famous. All in a groundbreaking, energy-efficient building that is set to become a 21st century architectural icon. The Australian Opal Centre will stimulate economic and cultural development in outback NSW, Queensland and South Australia and far beyond. It is long overdue and much needed. To learn more, visit the Australian Opal Centre web site.

The AOC is managed by a not-for-profit group with supporters across Australia and eight other countries. People of the opal fields have already donated treasures worth more than $2 million, over $850,000 in cash and countlesss hours of work; this brilliant project is a gift to the world from the people of the opal fields. Now, they need your help to achieve their vision – a priceless treasure for us and generations to come. 

One million people - $30 each.  We can do it!

Give what you can and - most importantly! - tell your friends. Every dollar counts.

Donations over $2 are tax deductible and the name of every donor will be on permanent display in the Australian Opal Centre.

Click DONATE, make your donation and watch the total grow. It's addictive!

Thank you for helping to build the Australian Opal Centre.