Burra, South Australia
Encyclopedia
Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of South Australia
. It lies east of the Clare Valley
in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges
, and on Burra Creek. The town began as a single company mining township that, by 1851, was a set of townships (company, private and government-owned) collectively known as “The Burra”. The Burra mines supplied 89% of South Australia's and 5% of the world’s copper
for 15 years, and the settlement has been credited (along with the mines at Kapunda) with saving the economy of the struggling new colony of South Australia. The Burra Burra Copper Mine was established in 1848 mining the copper deposit discovered in 1845. Miners and townspeople migrated to Burra primarily from Cornwall
, Wales
, Scotland
and Germany
. The mine first closed in 1877, briefly opened again early in the 20th century and for a last time from 1970-1981.
When the mine was exhausted and closed the population shrunk dramatically and the townships, for the next 100 years, supported pastoral and agricultural activities. Today the town continues as a centre for its surrounding farming communities and, being one of the best-preserved towns of the Victorian era
in Australia as a historic tourist centre.
The Burra Charter
, which outlines the best practice standard for cultural heritage management in Australia, is named for a conference held here in 1979 by Australia ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites
) where the document was adopted.
of Kooringa a few kilometres inside Goyder's Line
, near Burra, Baldina and Gum creeks
.
The main body of copper ore formed between two geological faults in broken dolomite
rocks. The ore body was up to 70 metres (230 ft) wide and mainly consisted of green malachite
and blue azurite
veins
and nodules
amongst the host rock. The malachite and azurite were formed from copper sulphide
minerals, by a process known as "secondary enrichment
". This process took millions of years to convert the low grade copper sulphide ore, which was probably created 300 to 400 millions of years ago during the last period of vulcanism
near Burra.
that flows through the town. From at least 1851 the collection of townships near the mine became referred to as "The Burra". The town of Burra was officially formed in 1940 by a notice in the South Australian Government Gazette with the consolidation of the mostly culturally-based townships of Redruth, Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, Hampton, Copperhouse, Kooringa, Llwchwr and Lostwithiel.
The name Burra Burra has been asserted to have come from numerous sources. Most favoured is that it comes from the Hindustani
for ‘great great’, used by India
ns working for early pastoralist James Stein to refer to creek. The name could also have come from Stein’s home country of Scotland
or a number of Aboriginal
languages.
Aboriginal
people whose first Western contact was in 1839. Pastoralists grazed much of the Ngadjuri land from the 1840s and, although there was conflict, Ngadjuri people worked as shepherd
s and wool
scourers, particularly once the area was emptied during the gold rush
es of the 1850s. Their population was seriously depleted by introduced European diseases and they were reported to be extinct by 1878. Traces remain with rock art
and burial
sites in the area and some people able to claim Ngadjuri ancestry.
into the office of Henry Ayers
,secretary of the South Australian Mining Association (SAMA). Streair, a young shepherd
in the employ of local pastoralist James Stein, had walked the 90 miles from Burra as did Thomas Pickett, a shepherd on a neighbouring property who made a further find. News of the copper this heralded was published on 21 June in Adelaide newspapers, and the site was soon named The Monster Mine.
Governor George Grey
had amended land grant regulations forcing the hundred of Kooringa to be a 20000 acres (8,093.7 ha) rectangle, placing the two copper finds at opposite ends. Due to the £20,000 (sterling) price of the land it was divided in two, with each half sold to a different group and the division decided by lot. The surveyed area was named the Burra Creek Special Survey. It is 8 by, divided into two squares, 4 miles to a side. A group of wealthy capitalist
s (known as "the nobs") purchased the southern half of the division and a group of shopkeeper
s, merchant
s and SAMA (collectively known as "the snobs") the northern half.
The Burra Burra Mine was established by the snobs in their northern selection, the Princess Royal Mine by the nobs in their southern. In 1846, 347 acres (140.4 ha) just north of the division was sold to the Scottish Australian Investment Company for £5,550 where they established the Bon Accord Mine. Mining began on 29 September 1845 with the first gunpowder
charge set off on the monster Burra Burra copper lode
and by mid 1846, the Bon Accord Mining Company had also commenced operations.
Until 1860 the mine was the largest metals mine in Australia. From 1845 to 1877 the mine produced approximately 50,000 tonnes of copper. The mine was reopened as a modern open cut in 1971, operating for a decade with 24,000 tonnes of copper extracted. The mine's Adelaide operation was run by Henry Ayers
, secretary
of SAMA, from its opening until the 1890s. The investor
s had put up a total of £12,320 of which £10,000 was spent purchasing the land. The first dividend
was paid on 24 June 1847 and by 1 December 1847 the mine had returned total dividends of £49,280. Over the mine's 32-year life, less than 100 shareholders received £826,586 in mining dividends. All mining dividends stopped after the mine closed in 1877, with the mine area sold in 1902 and the last property of SAMA in Kooringa sold in 1914. A final dividend was paid on 5 May 1916 and SAMA was wound up
and closed.
Most of the copper was for sale to India
as it was taking over a third of world copper supply in the mid-19th century. Due to the lack of smelting
in South Australia, copper ore was initially shipped to Cornwall
. The company purchased a Cornish beam engine
which was the first in Australia when erected in 1848. Due to the uneconomic state of the mine, in 1868 a decision made to open cut the mine. Mining ceased underground, having reached a depth of 183 metres (600 ft) and open-cut operations starting in 1870 although, over the remaining life of the mine, small underground operations extracted more ore than the expensive open cut.
Over the life of the mine, Henry Ayers jealously preserved shareholder profits
by ruthlessly controlling wage
s and expense
s. In October 1846 this caused the first strike
, of masons
and bricklayer
s, with the company refusing to pay more than 8 shilling
s per day. With declining copper prices (from £91 per ton
in 1845 to £87 in 1848) the company continually sought to reduce wages. By 1848 the wages reached their lowest level, which precipitated the Burra miners' strike
, being the first industrial strike in South Australia and earliest workers' strike of any consequence in Australia. The strike came and went numerous times, with miners not completely returning to work until January 1849.
By April 1848 the mine was employing 567 people and supporting a population of 1,500 in the township of Kooringa. Employment at the mine peaked at 1,208 in 1859 and declined continuously until the mine's closure in 1877. In November 1877 most of the remaining disposable equipment and stores were sold off and mining by SAMA ceased.
Bon Accord Mine
The Bon Accord Mining Company was formed on behalf of Scottish
speculator
s, in the expectation that the Burra lode
would extend under the properties boundary. No extension was found and, to recoup money, the townships of Aberdeen (1849) and New Aberdeen (1872) were formed on company land. Stoppage of pumping at the Burra Burra Mine in 1877 caused a rise in the water level in the neighbouring Bon Accord Mine forcing it to also close. Mining activity lasted from 1846 until 1849, was restarted in 1858 and finally ceased four years later with no orebody having been discovered. Many of the mine's buildings remain and are preserved by the National Trust of South Australia
as a museum.
Princess Royal Mine
The Princess Royal Mine was never successful, and in June 1859 the Princess Royal Mining Company closed its doors. During its brief life the mine produced 468 long tons (476 t) of copper worth £6,500 from 888 long tons (902 t) of ore. The mine and surrounding 10000 acres (4,046.9 ha) of then pastoral land was auctioned on 24 April 1860.
from 1843, as early pastoral pioneers were granted grazing rights on unsurveyed land. Over the life of the Burra Mine, most food was brought in as there was no freehold
offered by SAMA on the land and no adjoining hundreds
were declared until 1860. Agriculture
was delayed by the slow surveying of hundreds, as until these had been done there was no freehold or leasehold land but only grazing rights. As Burra lies almost on Goyder’s 1865 line
it is rated at the edge of marginal land for farming. After mining the town became a pastoral centre, and South Australia
’s main sheep trading centre until the mid-20th century.
and the directors
of SAMA the site of the township of Kooringa was chosen. George Strickland Kingston
surveyed and laid out the township, completing it in April 1846, and named many of the streets after directors of SAMA. From the beginning the township was a company town
, built at low cost and with insufficient housing, which forced many miners to dig makeshift homes. In the census
of 1851 over a third of the population were living along the creek and the census compiler took time to note:
Largely due to the company nature of the settlement, development was slow, with the first bank
not opening until 1859 and the town's first newspaper being printed in 1876. Until the National Bank
established the first branch in Kooringa, most exchange was either in the form of company scrip
or at shops operating as money exchange
s. All towns, except Kooringa, were built outside the mining lease but were still close to the mine as it was at the northern edge of the lease. The formation of the townships was forced by the refusal of SAMA to grant any freeholds within Kooringa, so miners began moving into other townships from the end of 1849. During their early lives each of the townships largely had their own hotel
s, churches, post office
s, school
s, and shops and identity. In 1851 the gold rush
near Bathurst
, New South Wales
, emptied the town of many miners. Whole families, government
officials and other townspeople left for the gold fields and by 1854 the town appeared largely deserted. The number of townships increased dramatically as a result of an 1858 proposal to extend a railway line from Gawler
. When the railway failed to be built most of the new townships failed and, in 1876, the remaining townships formed the Corporation of Burra.
In September 1846 the townships had their first police
force with the movement of four constable
s from Julia Creek to the south into temporary accommodation provided by SAMA. Permanent lockup cells and stables were completed in Redruth mid-1847. In September that year, William Lang was appointed resident magistrate
and coroner
for the Murray District and initially housed in a company cottage in Kooringa. The first hotel was a temporary wooden structure erected at the entrance to the township of Kooringa in mid-1846, and the first permanent hotel was the Burra Hotel (opened 25 September 1847) built by William Paxton
, a SAMA director and original owner of Ayers House. The Burra Hotel became the town’s first public hospital
in 1878 and was demolished in 1968.
Burra’s first parliamentary representative was George Strickland “Paddy” Kingston
who was elected in 1851 to the first legislative council
as member for Burra and Clare
, and for the same area to the house of assembly
in its first parliament of 1857.
Piped water
was supplied from 1884 from the flooded and abandoned Bon Accord Mine with water reaching 100 houses by 1885. This was the primary source for Burra until 1966 when it was replaced with water piped from the Murray River
. The Burra received its first supply of electricity
on 27 March 1924 from the newly-formed Burra electric supply company.
Burra's population has declined from a peak of 5,000 in 1851 to a present figure of approximately 1,000. The dramatic decrease at the end of mining inhibited expansion and helped preserve many of the original buildings and houses. The District Council of Burra was proclaimed in 1872, the Town Corporation in 1876 and in 1969 the District Council and Town Corporation were amalgamated.
Redruth was a government township formed in 1850 to break SAMA's monopoly. It is named after Redruth
in Cornwall
and its streets are named after Cornish mining towns
. The township was the site of all original government buildings (courthouse
, gaol and police station
). The courthouse was erected in 1857, and the gaol, built in 1856, was the first country gaol in South Australia. From 1897 to 1922 the gaol was used as a girls' reformatory
. SAMA delayed building in Redruth when they bought 77 of the 120 lots on offer at the initial land auction
, paying almost 20 times the overall reserve price.
word kuri-ngga meaning either in the circle or locality of the sheoak. During the life of the Burra Burra Mine, the township was widely reported as shabby, rundown and poorly maintained with the inhabitants having little incentive to maintain their rented
properties. Kooringa is still the main section of the town and is known as Burra South.
. The streets are named after street names in Llychwr, Wales and other nearby villages. In May 1848, the company had imported from Swansea
the entire of a smelting works comprising men, materials, tools, staff and families, and smelting was reported to be in operation by May 1849.
in 1849 forming Aberdeen (named after the east coastal city of Aberdeen
in Scotland
), with the company seeking to recoup some of their investment
. Streets were named to honour directors of the Bon Accord Mining Company and the retention of mineral rights
by the company prevented SAMA from acquiring the land, as they had in Redruth. New Aberdeen was subdivided after 1872 arrival of the railway from Kapunda, and most of the early buildings in the two townships were constructed in the three years following.
.
s. Other townships that either never succeeded or had been abandoned by 1940 were Princesstown, Lostwithiel, Westbury, Roachtown, Yarwood, Millertown, Warrapoota and Clonmel.
s and are from Adelaide
, over 40% of the visitors come from outside South Australia and over 50% stay overnight.
The town and mine are both well preserved with many original buildings, the water filled open cut mine, well-preserved mining buildings and a pump engine house which today houses a museum. Several chimneys from the mining industry have survived and a tourist trail showcases the old Redruth Gaol, miners’ dugout
cottages in the creek bank, a row of miners' cottages built in 1850, the cellars of the demolished Unicorn Brewery and other historic places. Burra is listed on the Register of the National Estate and many buildings are on the List of State Heritage Items. The town is publicly claimed to be the "Merino capital of the world".
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. It lies east of the Clare Valley
Clare Valley
The Clare Valley is one of Australia's oldest wine regions, best known for Riesling wines. It lies in the Mid North of South Australia, approximately 120 km north of Adelaide. The valley runs north-south, with Main North Road as the main thoroughfare....
in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges
Mount Lofty Ranges
The Mount Lofty Ranges are the range of mountains just to the east of Adelaide in South Australia.-Location and description:The Mount Lofty Ranges stretch from the southernmost point of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Cape Jervis northwards for over before petering out north of Peterborough...
, and on Burra Creek. The town began as a single company mining township that, by 1851, was a set of townships (company, private and government-owned) collectively known as “The Burra”. The Burra mines supplied 89% of South Australia's and 5% of the world’s copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
for 15 years, and the settlement has been credited (along with the mines at Kapunda) with saving the economy of the struggling new colony of South Australia. The Burra Burra Copper Mine was established in 1848 mining the copper deposit discovered in 1845. Miners and townspeople migrated to Burra primarily from Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The mine first closed in 1877, briefly opened again early in the 20th century and for a last time from 1970-1981.
When the mine was exhausted and closed the population shrunk dramatically and the townships, for the next 100 years, supported pastoral and agricultural activities. Today the town continues as a centre for its surrounding farming communities and, being one of the best-preserved towns of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
in Australia as a historic tourist centre.
The Burra Charter
Burra Charter
The Burra Charter defines the basic principles and procedures to be followed in the conservation of Australian heritage places.In 1979, the Australia ICOMOS Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance was adopted at a meeting of Australia ICOMOS at the historic mining town of...
, which outlines the best practice standard for cultural heritage management in Australia, is named for a conference held here in 1979 by Australia ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites
International Council on Monuments and Sites
The International Council on Monuments and Sites is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world...
) where the document was adopted.
Geology and geography
Burra is located within the hundredHundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
of Kooringa a few kilometres inside Goyder's Line
Goyder's Line
Goyder's Line is a boundary line across South Australia corresponding to a rainfall boundary believed to indicate the edge of the area suitable for agriculture. North of Goyder's Line, the rainfall is not reliable enough, and the land is only suitable for grazing and not cropping. The line traces a...
, near Burra, Baldina and Gum creeks
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
.
The main body of copper ore formed between two geological faults in broken dolomite
Dolomite
Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....
rocks. The ore body was up to 70 metres (230 ft) wide and mainly consisted of green malachite
Malachite
Malachite is a copper carbonate mineral, with the formula Cu2CO32. This green-colored mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses. Individual crystals are rare but do occur as slender to acicular prisms...
and blue azurite
Azurite
Azurite is a soft, deep blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. It is also known as Chessylite after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France...
veins
Vein (geology)
In geology, a vein is a distinct sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock. Veins form when mineral constituents carried by an aqueous solution within the rock mass are deposited through precipitation...
and nodules
Nodule (geology)
A nodule in petrology or mineralogy is a secondary structure, generally spherical or irregularly rounded in shape. Nodules are typically solid replacement bodies of chert or iron oxides formed during diagenesis of a sedimentary rock...
amongst the host rock. The malachite and azurite were formed from copper sulphide
Copper sulfide
Copper sulfides describe a family of chemical compounds and minerals with the formula CuxSy. Both minerals and synthetic materials comprise these compounds. Some copper sulfides are economically important ores....
minerals, by a process known as "secondary enrichment
Supergene (geology)
In ore deposit geology, supergene processes or enrichment occur relatively near the surface. Supergene processes include the predominance of meteoric water circulation with concomitant oxidation and chemical weathering. The descending meteoric waters oxidize the primary sulfide ore minerals and...
". This process took millions of years to convert the low grade copper sulphide ore, which was probably created 300 to 400 millions of years ago during the last period of vulcanism
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
near Burra.
Naming
The name applied to what is now the town of Burra has changed over time. The Burra Burra Copper Mine was named after the Burra Burra CreekStream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
that flows through the town. From at least 1851 the collection of townships near the mine became referred to as "The Burra". The town of Burra was officially formed in 1940 by a notice in the South Australian Government Gazette with the consolidation of the mostly culturally-based townships of Redruth, Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, Hampton, Copperhouse, Kooringa, Llwchwr and Lostwithiel.
The name Burra Burra has been asserted to have come from numerous sources. Most favoured is that it comes from the Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
for ‘great great’, used by India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
ns working for early pastoralist James Stein to refer to creek. The name could also have come from Stein’s home country of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
or a number of Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
languages.
Original inhabitants
The original inhabitants of the Burra area were the NgadjuriNgadjuri
The Ngadjuri people are a group of Indigenous Australians whose traditional lands lie in the mid north of South Australia with a territory extending from Gawler in the south to Orroroo in the north...
Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
people whose first Western contact was in 1839. Pastoralists grazed much of the Ngadjuri land from the 1840s and, although there was conflict, Ngadjuri people worked as shepherd
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
s and wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
scourers, particularly once the area was emptied during the gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
es of the 1850s. Their population was seriously depleted by introduced European diseases and they were reported to be extinct by 1878. Traces remain with rock art
Rock art
Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces*Pictographs - rock and cave paintings...
and burial
Burial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...
sites in the area and some people able to claim Ngadjuri ancestry.
Discovery of copper
On 9 June 1845 William Streair bore samples of a rich copper oreCopper extraction
Copper extraction techniques refers to the methods for obtaining copper from its ores. This conversion consists of a series of chemical, physical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, local environmental regulations, and other...
into the office of Henry Ayers
Henry Ayers
Sir Henry Ayers GCMG was Premier of South Australia five times between 1863 and 1873, but is perhaps best remembered for having Uluru/Ayers Rock named for him.- Overview :...
,secretary of the South Australian Mining Association (SAMA). Streair, a young shepherd
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
in the employ of local pastoralist James Stein, had walked the 90 miles from Burra as did Thomas Pickett, a shepherd on a neighbouring property who made a further find. News of the copper this heralded was published on 21 June in Adelaide newspapers, and the site was soon named The Monster Mine.
Governor George Grey
George Edward Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
had amended land grant regulations forcing the hundred of Kooringa to be a 20000 acres (8,093.7 ha) rectangle, placing the two copper finds at opposite ends. Due to the £20,000 (sterling) price of the land it was divided in two, with each half sold to a different group and the division decided by lot. The surveyed area was named the Burra Creek Special Survey. It is 8 by, divided into two squares, 4 miles to a side. A group of wealthy capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
s (known as "the nobs") purchased the southern half of the division and a group of shopkeeper
Shopkeeper
A shopkeeper is an individual who owns a shop. Generally, shop employees are not shopkeepers, but are often incorrectly referred to as shopkeepers. Today, a shopkeeper is usually referred to as a manager, though this term could apply to larger firms .*In many south asian languages like Hindi, Urdu,...
s, merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s and SAMA (collectively known as "the snobs") the northern half.
The Burra Burra Mine was established by the snobs in their northern selection, the Princess Royal Mine by the nobs in their southern. In 1846, 347 acres (140.4 ha) just north of the division was sold to the Scottish Australian Investment Company for £5,550 where they established the Bon Accord Mine. Mining began on 29 September 1845 with the first gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
charge set off on the monster Burra Burra copper lode
Lode
In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fissure in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock....
and by mid 1846, the Bon Accord Mining Company had also commenced operations.
Mining
Burra Burra or 'Monster Mine'Until 1860 the mine was the largest metals mine in Australia. From 1845 to 1877 the mine produced approximately 50,000 tonnes of copper. The mine was reopened as a modern open cut in 1971, operating for a decade with 24,000 tonnes of copper extracted. The mine's Adelaide operation was run by Henry Ayers
Henry Ayers
Sir Henry Ayers GCMG was Premier of South Australia five times between 1863 and 1873, but is perhaps best remembered for having Uluru/Ayers Rock named for him.- Overview :...
, secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
of SAMA, from its opening until the 1890s. The investor
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...
s had put up a total of £12,320 of which £10,000 was spent purchasing the land. The first dividend
Dividend
Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...
was paid on 24 June 1847 and by 1 December 1847 the mine had returned total dividends of £49,280. Over the mine's 32-year life, less than 100 shareholders received £826,586 in mining dividends. All mining dividends stopped after the mine closed in 1877, with the mine area sold in 1902 and the last property of SAMA in Kooringa sold in 1914. A final dividend was paid on 5 May 1916 and SAMA was wound up
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
and closed.
Most of the copper was for sale to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as it was taking over a third of world copper supply in the mid-19th century. Due to the lack of smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
in South Australia, copper ore was initially shipped to Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. The company purchased a Cornish beam engine
Beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall...
which was the first in Australia when erected in 1848. Due to the uneconomic state of the mine, in 1868 a decision made to open cut the mine. Mining ceased underground, having reached a depth of 183 metres (600 ft) and open-cut operations starting in 1870 although, over the remaining life of the mine, small underground operations extracted more ore than the expensive open cut.
Over the life of the mine, Henry Ayers jealously preserved shareholder profits
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
by ruthlessly controlling wage
Wage
A wage is a compensation, usually financial, received by workers in exchange for their labor.Compensation in terms of wages is given to workers and compensation in terms of salary is given to employees...
s and expense
Expense
In common usage, an expense or expenditure is an outflow of money to another person or group to pay for an item or service, or for a category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition is an expense. Buying food, clothing, furniture or an automobile is often...
s. In October 1846 this caused the first strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, of masons
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
and bricklayer
Bricklayer
A bricklayer or mason is a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The term also refers to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. In British and Australian English, a bricklayer is colloquially known as a "brickie".The training of a trade in...
s, with the company refusing to pay more than 8 shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s per day. With declining copper prices (from £91 per ton
Ton
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
in 1845 to £87 in 1848) the company continually sought to reduce wages. By 1848 the wages reached their lowest level, which precipitated the Burra miners' strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, being the first industrial strike in South Australia and earliest workers' strike of any consequence in Australia. The strike came and went numerous times, with miners not completely returning to work until January 1849.
By April 1848 the mine was employing 567 people and supporting a population of 1,500 in the township of Kooringa. Employment at the mine peaked at 1,208 in 1859 and declined continuously until the mine's closure in 1877. In November 1877 most of the remaining disposable equipment and stores were sold off and mining by SAMA ceased.
Bon Accord Mine
The Bon Accord Mining Company was formed on behalf of Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
speculator
Speculation
In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...
s, in the expectation that the Burra lode
Lode
In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fissure in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock....
would extend under the properties boundary. No extension was found and, to recoup money, the townships of Aberdeen (1849) and New Aberdeen (1872) were formed on company land. Stoppage of pumping at the Burra Burra Mine in 1877 caused a rise in the water level in the neighbouring Bon Accord Mine forcing it to also close. Mining activity lasted from 1846 until 1849, was restarted in 1858 and finally ceased four years later with no orebody having been discovered. Many of the mine's buildings remain and are preserved by the National Trust of South Australia
National Trust of Australia
The Australian Council of National Trusts is the peak body for community-based, non-government organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's indigenous, natural and historic heritage....
as a museum.
Princess Royal Mine
The Princess Royal Mine was never successful, and in June 1859 the Princess Royal Mining Company closed its doors. During its brief life the mine produced 468 long tons (476 t) of copper worth £6,500 from 888 long tons (902 t) of ore. The mine and surrounding 10000 acres (4,046.9 ha) of then pastoral land was auctioned on 24 April 1860.
Pastoral activity
Shepherding had been common around Burra with flocks grazingGrazing
Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...
from 1843, as early pastoral pioneers were granted grazing rights on unsurveyed land. Over the life of the Burra Mine, most food was brought in as there was no freehold
Fee simple
In English law, a fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way that real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved...
offered by SAMA on the land and no adjoining hundreds
Hundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
were declared until 1860. Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
was delayed by the slow surveying of hundreds, as until these had been done there was no freehold or leasehold land but only grazing rights. As Burra lies almost on Goyder’s 1865 line
Goyder's Line
Goyder's Line is a boundary line across South Australia corresponding to a rainfall boundary believed to indicate the edge of the area suitable for agriculture. North of Goyder's Line, the rainfall is not reliable enough, and the land is only suitable for grazing and not cropping. The line traces a...
it is rated at the edge of marginal land for farming. After mining the town became a pastoral centre, and South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
’s main sheep trading centre until the mid-20th century.
Development of the town
During a visit in October 1845 to Burra by Henry AyersHenry Ayers
Sir Henry Ayers GCMG was Premier of South Australia five times between 1863 and 1873, but is perhaps best remembered for having Uluru/Ayers Rock named for him.- Overview :...
and the directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of SAMA the site of the township of Kooringa was chosen. George Strickland Kingston
George Strickland Kingston
Sir George Strickland Kingston arrived in South Australia on the Cygnet in 1836. He was the Deputy Surveyor to William Light, engaged to survey the new colony of South Australia.-Early life:...
surveyed and laid out the township, completing it in April 1846, and named many of the streets after directors of SAMA. From the beginning the township was a company town
Company town
A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company...
, built at low cost and with insufficient housing, which forced many miners to dig makeshift homes. In the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 1851 over a third of the population were living along the creek and the census compiler took time to note:
There are no houses, the dwellings being excavated in the banks of the Burra Creek.
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
not opening until 1859 and the town's first newspaper being printed in 1876. Until the National Bank
National Australia Bank
National Australia Bank is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia in terms of market capitalisation and customers. NAB is ranked 17th largest bank in the world measured by market capitalisation...
established the first branch in Kooringa, most exchange was either in the form of company scrip
Scrip
Scrip is an American term for any substitute for currency which is not legal tender and is often a form of credit. Scrips were created as company payment of employees and also as a means of payment in times where regular money is unavailable, such as remote coal towns, military bases, ships on long...
or at shops operating as money exchange
Foreign exchange market
The foreign exchange market is a global, worldwide decentralized financial market for trading currencies. Financial centers around the world function as anchors of trading between a wide range of different types of buyers and sellers around the clock, with the exception of weekends...
s. All towns, except Kooringa, were built outside the mining lease but were still close to the mine as it was at the northern edge of the lease. The formation of the townships was forced by the refusal of SAMA to grant any freeholds within Kooringa, so miners began moving into other townships from the end of 1849. During their early lives each of the townships largely had their own hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
s, churches, post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
s, school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s, and shops and identity. In 1851 the gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
near Bathurst
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, emptied the town of many miners. Whole families, government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
officials and other townspeople left for the gold fields and by 1854 the town appeared largely deserted. The number of townships increased dramatically as a result of an 1858 proposal to extend a railway line from Gawler
Gawler, South Australia
Gawler is the first country town in the state of South Australia, and is named after the second Governor of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is located north of the centre of the state capital, Adelaide, and is close to the major wine producing district of the Barossa Valley...
. When the railway failed to be built most of the new townships failed and, in 1876, the remaining townships formed the Corporation of Burra.
In September 1846 the townships had their first police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
force with the movement of four constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
s from Julia Creek to the south into temporary accommodation provided by SAMA. Permanent lockup cells and stables were completed in Redruth mid-1847. In September that year, William Lang was appointed resident magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
and coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
for the Murray District and initially housed in a company cottage in Kooringa. The first hotel was a temporary wooden structure erected at the entrance to the township of Kooringa in mid-1846, and the first permanent hotel was the Burra Hotel (opened 25 September 1847) built by William Paxton
William Paxton (Australian businessman)
William Paxton was a South Australian colonist who arrived in 1840, became one of the investors in the Burra copper mines and returned to England in July 1855, a wealthy man....
, a SAMA director and original owner of Ayers House. The Burra Hotel became the town’s first public hospital
Public hospital
A public hospital or government hospital is a hospital which is owned by a government and receives government funding. This type of hospital provides medical care free of charge, the cost of which is covered by the funding the hospital receives....
in 1878 and was demolished in 1968.
Burra’s first parliamentary representative was George Strickland “Paddy” Kingston
George Strickland Kingston
Sir George Strickland Kingston arrived in South Australia on the Cygnet in 1836. He was the Deputy Surveyor to William Light, engaged to survey the new colony of South Australia.-Early life:...
who was elected in 1851 to the first legislative council
South Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly...
as member for Burra and Clare
Clare, South Australia
The town of Clare is located in South Australia in the Mid North region, 136 km north of Adelaide. It gives its name to the Clare Valley wine and tourist region.-History:One of the first settlers in the area was John Horrocks, in 1839...
, and for the same area to the house of assembly
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...
in its first parliament of 1857.
Piped water
Water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...
was supplied from 1884 from the flooded and abandoned Bon Accord Mine with water reaching 100 houses by 1885. This was the primary source for Burra until 1966 when it was replaced with water piped from the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
. The Burra received its first supply of electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
on 27 March 1924 from the newly-formed Burra electric supply company.
Burra's population has declined from a peak of 5,000 in 1851 to a present figure of approximately 1,000. The dramatic decrease at the end of mining inhibited expansion and helped preserve many of the original buildings and houses. The District Council of Burra was proclaimed in 1872, the Town Corporation in 1876 and in 1969 the District Council and Town Corporation were amalgamated.
Redruth
Redruth
Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of...
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
and its streets are named after Cornish mining towns
Mining in Cornwall
Mining in Cornwall and Devon began in the early Bronze Age approximately 2,150 BC and ended with the South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall closing in 1998...
. The township was the site of all original government buildings (courthouse
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
, gaol and police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
). The courthouse was erected in 1857, and the gaol, built in 1856, was the first country gaol in South Australia. From 1897 to 1922 the gaol was used as a girls' reformatory
Reformatory
Reformatory is a term that has had varied meanings within the penal system, depending on the jurisdiction and the era. It may refer to a youth detention center, or an adult correctional facility. The term is still in popular use for adult facilities throughout the United States, although most...
. SAMA delayed building in Redruth when they bought 77 of the 120 lots on offer at the initial land auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
, paying almost 20 times the overall reserve price.
Kooringa
Kooringa was the first company township in Australia and, until the closure of the mine, was maintained as a strictly company-run town. The township's name is derived from the AboriginalIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
word kuri-ngga meaning either in the circle or locality of the sheoak. During the life of the Burra Burra Mine, the township was widely reported as shabby, rundown and poorly maintained with the inhabitants having little incentive to maintain their rented
Housing tenure
Housing tenure refers to the financial arrangements under which someone has the right to live in a house or apartment. The most frequent forms are tenancy, in which rent is paid to a landlord, and owner occupancy. Mixed forms of tenure are also possible....
properties. Kooringa is still the main section of the town and is known as Burra South.
Llychwr
Llychwr, sometimes spelled Llychwr, was built by the Patent Copper Company (later the English and Australian Copper Company) to avoid the need to ship all of the ore to WalesWales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The streets are named after street names in Llychwr, Wales and other nearby villages. In May 1848, the company had imported from Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
the entire of a smelting works comprising men, materials, tools, staff and families, and smelting was reported to be in operation by May 1849.
Aberdeen and New Aberdeen
In 1846 a group of speculators from Scotland formed the Bon Accord Mining Company, purchasing a section of land on the northern boundary of the special survey, hoping that the ore body extended under the boundary. Due to the lack of success in mining company land near the mine was subdividedSubdivision (land)
Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise develop, usually via a plat. The former single piece as a whole is then known in the United States as a subdivision...
in 1849 forming Aberdeen (named after the east coastal city of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
), with the company seeking to recoup some of their investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
. Streets were named to honour directors of the Bon Accord Mining Company and the retention of mineral rights
Mineral rights
- Mineral estate :Ownership of mineral rights is an estate in real property. Technically it is known as a mineral estate and often referred to as mineral rights...
by the company prevented SAMA from acquiring the land, as they had in Redruth. New Aberdeen was subdivided after 1872 arrival of the railway from Kapunda, and most of the early buildings in the two townships were constructed in the three years following.
Railway
The broadgauge railway eventually went through Burra to reach a break of gauge station further north at TerowieTerowie, South Australia
Terowie is a small town in the mid-north of South Australia located north of Adelaide. It is located in the Regional Council of Goyder. Terowie retains a number of authentic and well preserved 1880s buildings, and has been declared a "historic town". It also remains a town of interest to those...
.
Other townships
The townships of Copperhouse, Hampton and Nelson were not included in the 1940 proclamation forming the town of Burra, as they had become ghost townGhost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
s. Other townships that either never succeeded or had been abandoned by 1940 were Princesstown, Lostwithiel, Westbury, Roachtown, Yarwood, Millertown, Warrapoota and Clonmel.
Burra Today
Burra today is an important regional centre for surrounding farming communities and a historic tourist destination. From its 1994 declaration as a State Heritage Town, tourism has grown to an estimate of 41,000 visitors in 2000. While many visitors are day-tripperDay-tripper
A day-tripper is a person who visits a tourist destination or visitor attraction from his/her home and returns home on the same day.- Definition :In other words, this excursion does not involve a night away from home such as experienced on a holiday...
s and are from Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, over 40% of the visitors come from outside South Australia and over 50% stay overnight.
The town and mine are both well preserved with many original buildings, the water filled open cut mine, well-preserved mining buildings and a pump engine house which today houses a museum. Several chimneys from the mining industry have survived and a tourist trail showcases the old Redruth Gaol, miners’ dugout
Dugout (shelter)
A dugout or dug-out, also known as a pithouse, pit-house, earth lodge, mud hut, is a shelter for humans or domesticated animals and livestock based on a hole or depression dug into the ground. These structures are one of the most ancient types of human housing known to archeologists...
cottages in the creek bank, a row of miners' cottages built in 1850, the cellars of the demolished Unicorn Brewery and other historic places. Burra is listed on the Register of the National Estate and many buildings are on the List of State Heritage Items. The town is publicly claimed to be the "Merino capital of the world".
Timeline
| Year | Town, people and local area | Mining |
|---|---|---|
| 1843 | Surveyor General E.C. Frome Edward Charles Frome General Edward Charles Frome was a prominent British Army officer and Surveyor-general of South Australia.... sketches a shepherd’s hut on the Burra Burra Creek |
|
| 1845 | Townsite chosen and first streets laid out in Kooringa | Discovery of copper and commencement of mining operations Shaft mining Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom.... at the Burra Burra Mine |
| 1846 | First cottages built and a police contingent arrives | Mining begins at the Bon Accord Mine |
| 1847 | Kooringa Wesleyan Methodism Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother... Chapel Chapel A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,... built as the first church |
|
| 1848 | The miners' strike was the first strike in South Australia and the first industrial strike of significance in Australia | |
| 1849 | Redruth and Aberdeen land auctions held | Patent Copper Co. begins smelting copper ore |
| 1850 | First public town meeting to discuss the proposed South Australian constitution Government of South Australia The form of the Government of South Australia is prescribed in its constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then... |
|
| 1851 | Burra’s reported population of 5,000 made it the 7th largest town in Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... and the largest inland settlement |
|
| 1856 | Redruth Gaol completed | |
| 1858 | The Burra Burra Mine covers 15 acres (6.1 ha) with 8 miles (12.9 km) of tunnels and galleries. | |
| 1859 | Telegraph, post office and National Australia Bank open. Floods wipe out most of the miners' dugouts along the creek | Princess Royal Mining Company closes |
| 1867 | Act No. 20 passed authorising construction of railway to Burra | Underground mining ceases |
| 1869 | Freehold land for sale on Kooringa | Burra Burra Mine workforce reduced to 46 |
| 1870 | First train and rabbit plague arrive at Burra | Open cut operations begin |
| 1872 | Burra District Council formed. Township of New Aberdeen laid out | |
| 1873 | Original Unicorn Brewery established | |
| 1876 | Burra News and Northern Mail first printed. Proclamation of the Corporation of the Town of Burra | |
| 1877 | Inaugural agricultural show. Burra Hospital opened | Burra Burra Mine closes |
| 1883 | Present railway station building constructed, replacing a former wooden building | |
| 1890 | Discovery of diprotodon Diprotodon Diprotodon, meaning "two forward teeth", sometimes known as the Giant Wombat or the Rhinoceros Wombat, was the largest known marsupial that ever lived... skeletons at Baldina Creek |
|
| 1897 | Unsuccessful attempt to form a company to reopen mining | |
| 1899 | Burra slag extraction company begins operations on slag Slag Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form... heaps |
|
| 1901 | White Sunday – Burra’s greatest snowstorm | |
| 1902 | Motor vehicles appear for sale in Burra. Unicorn Brewery closed due to new Commonwealth tax laws | |
| 1916 | Burra Mine area (262 acres) sold for £6,000 | |
| 1921 | Morphett’s Engine House demolished for use as building stone | |
| 1922 | Prime minister Prime Minister of Australia The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful... Billy Hughes Billy Hughes William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923.... unveils the Burra and District Fallen Soldiers' memorial |
|
| 1925 | Burra Electricity Supply Company switches on | |
| 1930 | Gold Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a... discovered at nearby Mongolata |
|
| 1932 | Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC, AFC , often called by his nickname Smithy, was an early Australian aviator. In 1928, he earned global fame when he made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia... lands in Southern Cross Southern Cross (aircraft) Southern Cross is the name of the Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane which in 1928 was flown by Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew in the first ever trans-Pacific flight, from the mainland United States to Australia, about .... and takes townspeople for joyrides |
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| 1934 | 183-ounce Ounce The ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 28 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems... gold nugget Gold nugget A gold nugget is a naturally occurring piece of native gold. Watercourses often concentrate and grow the nuggets. Nuggets are recovered by placer mining, but they are also found in residual deposits where the gold-bearing veins or lodes are weathered... (Pexton’s nugget) found at Mongolata |
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| 1938 | The Council merges into the District Council of Burra Burra | |
| 1951 | First housing trust South Australian Housing Trust The South Australian Housing Trust was a statutory authority established by the of the Government of South Australia responsible for providing low-cost rental housing to working people and their families.-History:... homes built |
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| 1957 | Television Television Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound... first displayed in the town hall City hall In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city... |
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| 1961 | Burra Burra Mine area opened as a tourist resort | |
| 1967 | Driest year on record with 6.5 inches (165.1 mm) of rain | |
| 1970 | World record price for a Merino Merino The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. Merinos are regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep... Ram of $27,200 from the Collinsville Stud |
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| 1971 | Samin Ltd begins production of copper concentrates | |
| 1972 | Resited Cornish chimney opened by Governor Governors of South Australia The Governor of South Australia is the representative in the Australian state of South Australia of Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. The Governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the Governor-General of Australia at the national level.In... Sir Mark Oliphant Mark Oliphant Sir Marcus 'Mark' Laurence Elwin Oliphant, AC, KBE, FRS was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played a fundamental role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and also the development of the atomic bomb.During his retirement, Oliphant was appointed as the Governor of... |
$3 Million plans for expansion announced by Samin Ltd |
| 1974 | Wettest year on record with 35.06 inches (890.5 mm) of rain | |
| 1979 | The Burra Charter Burra Charter The Burra Charter defines the basic principles and procedures to be followed in the conservation of Australian heritage places.In 1979, the Australia ICOMOS Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance was adopted at a meeting of Australia ICOMOS at the historic mining town of... was adopted by Australia ICOMOS in Burra |
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| 1980 | The film Breaker Morant Breaker Morant (film) Breaker Morant is a 1980 Australian film about the court martial of Breaker Morant, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring British actor Edward Woodward as Harry "Breaker" Morant... was filmed in the area with Market Square featuring due to its preserved Victorian buildings |
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| 1981 | Work ceases at the mine. | |
| 1983 | Final attempt to reopen the mine | |
| 1985 | Rail services to Burra cease | |
| 1988 | Burra proclaimed Merino capital of the world. Railway line closed (now dismantled north of Burra) | |
| 1993 | Burra proclaimed a state heritage area | |
| 1997 | District Council amalgamated into the District Council of Goyder | |
| 2000 | Princess Royal Mine area sold to CR and SP Pty Ltd | |
| 2008 | A new Unicorn Brewery (microbrewery) opens for business, headquartered in Burra |
External links
- South Australian History - Burra
- Burra Visitor & Information Centre Retrieved 15 August 2011