| Type: | town |
| Coober Pedy | |
| Native Name: | Umoona |
| State: | sa |
| Coordinates: | -29.0111°N 134.7556°W |
| Established: | 1915 |
| Postcode: | 5723 |
| Dist1: | 846 |
| Dir1: | NW |
| Location1: | Adelaide |
| Dist2: | 688 |
| Dir2: | S |
| Location2: | Alice Springs |
| Lga: | District Council of Coober Pedy |
| Region: | Far North[1] |
| Stategov: | Giles[2] |
| Fedgov: | Grey[3] |
| Maxtemp: | 27.8 |
| Maxtemp Footnotes: | [4] |
| Mintemp: | 14.2 |
| Rainfall: | 144.2 |
| Near-N: | Mount Willoughby Mount Barry |
| Near-Ne: | Anna Creek |
| Near-E: | Anna Creek |
| Near-Se: | Mount Douall |
| Near-S: | Ingomar |
| Near-Sw: | Mount Clarence Station Ingomar |
| Near-W: | Mount Clarence Station |
| Near-Nw: | Mount Willoughby |
| Footnotes: | Adjoining localities[5] |
Coober Pedy is a town in northern South Australia, 846km (526miles) north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. A blower truck is raised above the town sign, representing the importance of opal mining to the town's history. Coober Pedy is also renowned for its below-ground dwellings, called "dugouts", which are built in this fashion due to the scorching daytime heat.[6]
The name "Coober Pedy" is thought to derive from the Kokatha-Barngarla term kupa-piti, which translates to "whitefellas' hole",[7] but in 1975 the local Aboriginal people of the town adopted the name Umoona, which means "long life" and is also their name for the mulga tree.
Aboriginal people have a longstanding connection with the area, which is considered by the people of the Western Desert to be the traditional lands of the Arabana people, although Kokatha and Yankunytjatjara people are also closely attached to some ceremonial sites in the area. The origin of the name of the town (decided in 1920) is thought to derive from the words in the Kokatha language, kupa piti, usually translated as "whitefella" and "hole in the ground", or guba bidi, "white man's holes", relating to white people's mining activities