Tottie Kendall
Small-scale Prospector
Coober Pedy Opal Fields 

Tottie Kendall was a Barngarla woman, born around 1885 at Yadlamalka in South Australia. She had family connections to Country across the Eyre Peninsula and the southern Flinders Ranges.

From the 1930s to the 1960s she lived in a small dugout at Coober Pedy with her partner, Charlie Bryant, a World War I veteran and prospector. During this period, they spent time around the Coober Pedy opal fields, engaging in small-scale prospecting and noodling — collecting opal fragments from the ground surface rather than undertaking formal mining.

In 1946, while at the Eight Mile Field with Bryant, Kendall located surface opal that drew renewed attention to the area. Her involvement was informal and based on surface prospecting rather than organised mining operations. The discovery has often been cited as an important moment in the post-war revival of opal activity at Coober Pedy.

Kendall died at Port Augusta in 1973. She maintained a long association with Coober Pedy and was regarded within the community as a peacemaker. Her story reflects the presence and participation of Aboriginal women in everyday small-scale prospecting activities in central Australia during the mid-20th century.