How Open Learning has had a Great Affect on my Life

Written by Elizabeth Hewet


Elizabeth Hewet - English Literature Diploma

When my children started to get torepparttar age that they were spending more time with their friends, and my husband was at work each day, I realised that I had more time on my hands than I needed. It was also around this time that I realised thatrepparttar 145290 literature that I was reading, and by most partrepparttar 145291 literature I could find inrepparttar 145292 local shops pretty much had allrepparttar 145293 same plots. I was getting bored ofrepparttar 145294 novels that tried entertaining with mysteries that weren't so clever, twists in court cases that were easy to work out byrepparttar 145295 second page, and woman telling me that I clearly couldn't fit in if my wardrobe didn't offer at least twenty pairs of worshipped shoes! I wasn't terribly worried about how my body parts looked in my clothes which seems to be a running theme in most novels, as long as I looked tidy and presentable, and I had no use forrepparttar 145296 small romances that always turn out alright inrepparttar 145297 end. I clearly had lost any interest in escaping to these places and wondered if there was something more to look forward to.

I wondered about book shops and always went straight pastrepparttar 145298 'classics' aisles, deciding that they were too difficult for me, and thought that reading one of 'those' books wouldn't be an escape, but difficult. For a long while I leftrepparttar 145299 shops empty handed until I couldn't standrepparttar 145300 newspapers anymore. They certainly were not an escape! I had to do something drastic, and my saviour came inrepparttar 145301 shape of distance learning. I enrolled on an English Literature diploma which is done through open learning and distance learning with Oxford College ODL. I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to do it, and simply picking uprepparttar 145302 course scared me atrepparttar 145303 beginning. I couldn't believe that after so much time away from learning, I could actually grasp something that I had been scared of almost all my life, but I slowly started reading throughrepparttar 145304 material, and writing my first assignment. My tutor was very encouraging, and had I not had her support, I probably would have never believed that I could complete such a diploma, but I have.

"Nature's Fireworks" - A Beginner's Guide to OPAL - Part 3 Australian Opal Fields

Written by Stuart Bazga


All ofrepparttar significant opal deposits in Australia duringrepparttar 145289 last 100 years are located within or surroundingrepparttar 145290 Great Artesian Basin. The most important deposits are found in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland.

Today, mining is carried out atrepparttar 145291 following main areas and each area produces solid opal with specific characteristics and colour patterns.

Lightning Ridge, New South Wales

This is a town famous for its rich and rare black opal. Black opal gets its name fromrepparttar 145292 colour ofrepparttar 145293 “nobbies” or pieces of rough opal in whichrepparttar 145294 gems are usually found.

Black opal was first discovered here inrepparttar 145295 late 1880’s, however its commercial value was not at first recognised by buyers. It wasn’t untilrepparttar 145296 early 1900’s that some opal nobbies were found and shafts dug.

Opal occurs either as “nobbies” or in seams and thin layers within a soft greyish clay stone. The opal dirt levels occur between six and eighteen metres fromrepparttar 145297 surface, but have been found at depths as deep as thirty metres. The fields also yield opalised shells, wood and reptilian bones.

Some ofrepparttar 145298 traditional fields around Lightning Ridge includerepparttar 145299 Three Mile and Thorleys Six Mile.

White Cliffs, New South Wales

Located 295 kilometres northeast of Broken Hill, White Cliffs is Australia’s oldest opal field, where mining began about 1889. As with most towns with mining operations,repparttar 145300 population quickly soared, peaking at 5,000 in its heyday.

The light crystal opal found at White Cliff quickly became famous onrepparttar 145301 world market. The opal fields producedrepparttar 145302 first commercially accepted opal, far surpassingrepparttar 145303 quality ofrepparttar 145304 Hungarian mines, as opal displaying such vivid colours had never been seen before.

Between 1903 and 1914,repparttar 145305 richer areas ofrepparttar 145306 opal field became exhausted and a decline in production resulted. The effects of World War 1 also affectedrepparttar 145307 area, contributing torepparttar 145308 decline.

Central Queensland

The history of opal in Queensland dates back torepparttar 145309 early 1870’s, but it wasn’t until 1889 whenrepparttar 145310 gem was successfully marketed. The real development ofrepparttar 145311 vast opal deposits began in 1873 withrepparttar 145312 discovery of fine quality opal north of Thargomindah.

During those early years production was low as there was no ready market forrepparttar 145313 gem. It tookrepparttar 145314 efforts and determination of an entrepreneur named Tully Woolaston to establishrepparttar 145315 industry.

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