Coober Pedy is a small town in the Outback of Southern Australia.

Originally an opal mining town, many of Coober Pedy's residents live underground to escape the region's immense heat.

Homes, dive bars, a church, and more can be found buried underground in what the locals call "dugouts."

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In the middle of the Australian Outback, there's a town where chimneys rise from the sand and big red signs warn people of "unmarked holes."

Welcome to Coober Pedy, the town that lives underground.

What began in 1916 as perhaps the largest opal mining operation in the world has since expanded into a subterranean community that is safely out of reach from the region's 120-degree summers.

Entire bedrooms, bookstores, churches, and bars are installed in the carved underground walls of Coober Pedy — and after 100 years of living in these "dugouts," the folks who call it home have no plans of stopping.

Here's a look inside the underground mining town of Coober Pedy.