I found a DVD of the ABC Doco "Opal Fever" a couple of months ago in an Op-shop for $1. It was made about 2004, in Coober Pedy. Maybe it inspired the Movie.
A "ratter" is someone who goes into someone elses mine, and works it - sometimes in the middle of the night - very frowned upon in the industry, as you would imagine, charged with theft etc, if the miners don't deal with him first.
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jules "Love is good for the human being!!" (Ben, aged 10)