While we Brits have been struggling to keep cool over the past few weeks during the recent heatwave that has gripped much of the UK, with temperatures in the low 30s, imagine waking up to 55C heat, not just for a few days, but weeks at a time. This is the reality for residents living in a remote Australian region. Here, temperatures are often so fierce during the summer that almost the entire community has been driven underground.
Welcome to Coober Pedy in South Australia, which loosely translates from the indigenous term meaning “white man in a hole”. At first glance, it appears almost deserted, a scattering of low-rise buildings and dusty roads. However, beneath the scorched red earth lies a hidden world where most of the town’s 1,500 residents live, work and sleep.
Coober Pedy was founded in 1915 when opal was discovered in the area, which drew miners from Australia and further afield in the hope of securing a fortune. However, with summer temperatures often reaching 55C, early settlers quickly realised that traditional housing would not cut it.
Their solution was to dig into the hills, creating homes, known as “dugouts”, where the temperature stays a much more comfortable 22–24C all year round. Today, churches, bars, an art gallery and even hotels for tourists wanting to experience life underground for themselves can be found carved into the rock, providing refuge from the relentless sun above.
Sabrina Troisi, 38, moved from Stuttgart, Germany, to Coober Pedy in 2013, with her husband, Nick, son Thomas, 14, and daughter Leah, 13. Her own unique property was bought for just $277,000 (£132,000), far more affordable than the average Adelaide property, which can set buyers back an average of $796,000 (£382,000). The unusual family home, concealed about four metres beneath the rocks, boasts two living rooms, two bathrooms and even a pool.
“Walking into our house is just walking into a hill, basically,” she said, an office manager who works at the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum, reported The Mirror.
“It’s much cheaper to live underground than above ground. It’s cheaper because you don’t need to heat or cool the rooms, and you just need lights inside,” the mum-of-two added. “It’s also much cheaper to rent or purchase dugouts because the roof is already there, you just tunnel into the hill to make a building.”
For Ms Troisi, the best part about underground life has to be the peace and quiet. She said: “There’s no outside noise. When you shut the door, everything disappears. It’s completely dark, completely quiet, perfect for sleeping. I love sleeping underground.
“I wake up in the morning without windows, so you don’t actually look out the windows and see what the weather is like, like any other person. But you assume it’s normally nice weather in Coober Pedy, so there’s not much rain here. We get maybe five to 10 rain events a year. So you can probably leave your umbrella at home.”
In some neighbourhoods, the only signs of life are the ventilation shafts sticking through the ground. These shafts ensure an adequate supply of oxygen and allow moisture to escape. This is due to the fact that the houses must be at least four metres deep to prevent the roofs from collapsing.
Amazingly, the dugouts are structurally sound without supports, making it possible to carve high ceilings in any shape desired. The rock is “very soft; you can scratch it with a pocket knife or your fingernail,” Barry Lewis, who works at the tourist information centre, told the BBC in 2023.
The homes are also incredibly economical. The town generates all of its own electricity, 70% of which is powered by wind and solar energy.
“When we go on holiday and stay in hotels, they notice every little noise, roosters, planes, anything,” Ms Troisi added. “Underground, you don’t hear a thing.”
Coober Pedy has no shortage of unique attractions. Visitors can tour the town’s opal mines, its hillside graveyard and several underground churches, including the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Elijah the Prophet, hand-dug in 1993. A popular stop is the former home of Arvid Blumenthal, better known as “Crocodile Harry”, a miner and World War Two veteran whose outback lifestyle helped inspire the Crocodile Dundee films. For those wanting to experience life below ground, several motels also offer underground rooms.