By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
CHARACTERS as rugged as the Lightning Ridge desertscape stole photojournalist Lucy Di Paolo’s heart.
Ms Di Paolo, a former Journal photographer, had followed the footsteps of her late mother who had lived on and off in the opal mining town 770 kilometres north-west of Sydney.
She wanted to know why her late mother Marisol called it home.
She ended up creating a photo-exhibition and book Fragile Black Heart – cataloguing charismatic townspeople and their stories.
When Ms Di Paolo picks up the book, she can’t help but smile.
She thinks of the warm, friendly characters, the ones who poured out stories as they downed drinks together.
“I’ve highlighted the die-hard miners with opals in their blood; there are those who like the lifestyle and freedom.
“It’s a slow pace. They have got their own time – Lightning Ridge time.
“I found a few people I trust.”
For her mother, there was the allure of the prized black opal. Few prospectors in the town make a good living; most are on welfare benefits.
Under this “traditional” Australian town – with a pub that held weekly meat raffles – lay a “quiet” domestic violence problem.
It’s the black heart that Ms Di Paolo says has worsened in the town since her 2009 trip.
She will donate some of her book sales to the town’s Yawarra Meamei domestic-violence women’s support group.
Fragile Black Heart is launched at Walker Street Gallery, corner Walker and Robinson streets, Dandenong on 10 May at 12pm.
