South Australia Archives - Explore Cornwall

Burra Mine

Caitlin — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 07:43:09 +0000

Eight years after the formation of the South Australian colony and just one year after ‘Coppermania’ started at Kapunda, more copper was found at what would become Burra Mine.

In 1845, not one, but two copper deposits were found; one by William Streair and another just after by Thomas Pickett. Due to their close proximity the two finds were grouped together and sold for £1 ($165 now) an acre. However, an ongoing economic crisis meant that few companies could afford this hefty price. Three contenders for the lease arose. The South Australian Mining Association (SAMA), a newly minted cost-book company made up of merchants and landowners, the Mining Association of the Northern Monster Lode and a group of capitalists and pastoralists that for the Princess Royal Mining Company.

None of the companies had the funds to buy the entire lease by themselves, but combined they could. The first two groups joined forces under the SAMA title and with Princess Royal paid half each. The lease was itself divided in two and straws were drawn to determine who would get which end; SAMA won the rights to the northern section which became Monster Lode or Burra Mine and the southern section went to Princess Royal, naming their mine after themselves.

After buying the land, little money was left and lots of financial juggling was required in the early years. This however did not stop the mine from growing exponentially. Since the discovery of copper at Kapunda, hundred’s of Cornish miners began to flock to South Australia and Burra was no exception. The town wasn’t named Burra until much later on, with the Cornish miners setting up smaller settlements, naming them after places from home, like Redruth and Copperhouse.

1947 saw the purchase of the first steam engine as water in the mine became increasingly unmanageable. This was of course ordered from Perran Foundry in Cornwall; this arrived into Port Adelaide two years later and began the 100 mile trip to the mine. Smelters were built at Burra Creek in 1849 by Scheider’s Patent Copper Company. Prior to this all the higher quality ore had to be sent down to Port Adelaide, a journey of two weeks, and then onto Wales for processing. Poor quality ore had been smelted on site since 1947 and the installation meant that all of the ore could be smelted nearby, reducing costs immensely.

The Princess Royal closed in 1851. During this time, gold was found in Victoria and large numbers of miners left to join the rushes and work at the mine ground to a halt. The pumps were turned off and many of the lower levels flooded.

Just three years later, lots of the miners returned and work began again in earnest. Water continued to be a problem and a new larger engine was sought. This was purchased in 1858 and installed two years later. In 1860 the Monster Mine was considered the largest in Australia. However, this did not last and just seven years later underground work had come to a halt. Attention turned to above ground offerings and a new dressing floor with a tower was erected to treat this lower grade ore.

The mine struggled on for several more years, closing in 1877 as copper prices fell. One last attempt at working the site occurred nearly 100 years later in 1970, under Adelaide & Wallaroo Fertiliser Ltd, lasting ten years. Samin Ltd continued to process stockpiled ore on site for several years afterwards. In 1981 the mine closed for good and was later transformed into the heritage site it is today.

Engine Houses

The first engine house was ordered in the late 1840’s; this came second hand from Perran Foundry and was named after the principle mine captain, who may have worked at Tresavean in Lanner. Installed and working in 1849, it was inactive only three years later. The 50″ engine was dismantled the following year and sold to Bon Accord in 1859 for £2000 ($240,438 now). In 1887 it then went to Bird-in-Hand Mine. A 30″ crusher was added to the mine in 1850. As water became an increasing problem, this also started to pump water in 1855 before being sold to Karkulto Mine the year after.

In 1852, a much larger pumping engine was ordered from Perran Foundry. This was a 80″ engine that worked until 1862 called Schneider’s. A 30″ whim was installed on Peacock’s shaft in 1857. It actually arrived in Australia, again from Perran Foundry seven years prior, but significant delays in building and installing the engine meant it did not go to work when it should have. It was converted to pumping water in 1872 and was scrapped in 1916.

Two engine houses were installed around Morphett’s shaft. The first was a 80″ pumping engine costing £8,688 ($1,058,970 now) erected 1860 by Thomas Paynter and Ambrose Harris, two Cornishmen. It stopped work for two years between 1868 and 1870, before stopping for good in 1877. The engine house caught fire in 1925 and was reconstructed as part of South Australia’s Jubilee 150 celebrations in 1986. A 20″ whim was also installed in 1861 until it was adapted to drive dressing machinery seven years later.

The last pumping engine to be built on the site was Graves. It was erected in 1868 by Thomas Payne. The house was originally supposed to have a new engine from Cornwall, but the order was cancelled and the idle engine in Schneider’s was going to be installed. While the bedstones from Schneider’s were moved into the new house, the engine never made it.

Two further engines were installed later in the mines life. 1876 saw a small horizontal whim being installed to haul ore trucks from the open cut up to the dressing tower and a 22″ crusher in 1874.

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Wallaroo Mine

Caitlin — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 07:21:31 +0000

On the Yorke Peninsula are the scant remains of Wallaroo mine, the mine that started the third South Australian copper rush after Kapunda in 1842 and Burra in 1845. Copper was discovered here in 1859 after local shepherd James Boor spotted it while herding his sheep. Land owner Walter Hughes quickly secured the mining lease and opened the Wallaroo Mine, naming it after a sheep station with the same name that he also owned. By February of the following year work had begun around what would later be Home shaft by four miners.

Within a year, 150 men were employed at the venture and the neighbouring town of Kadina had been gazetted in 1861.The discovery of this copper added some financial stability for South Australia which at this time was going through a period of depression.

The peak for the mine was between 1870 and 1876, employing over 1,000 individuals and having five Cornish engines at work. Unfortunately copper prices began to dip in 1878 and activity began to decline with it. Despite this, the railway was still extended from Adelaide, improving the connectivity of the region. In 1899 nearby Matta Mine was incorporated into Wallaroo; this venture started work in 1863 but had ongoing water problems.

In 1890 the mine amalgamated with its neighbour Moonta Mine. The joint venture struggled on, with the Moonta section focusing on shallow levels and the installation of a new leaching plant. In 1904 a fire broke out underground at Taylor’s shaft, trapping miners until volunteers managed to control the flames and rescue them. No one was killed, but several miners suffered from smoke inhalation. The mine managed to continue on for a little longer, closing for good in 1904.

Engine Houses

The mine had a number of engine houses over its lifetime. The first was a 12″ whim and stamping engine in 1861, quickly followed by a 24″ pumping engine just a year later. A larger engine was installed on Taylor’s shaft; this was a 60″ engine built in 1863 and was the location of the 1904 fire, with the engine being replaced with electric pumps. In 1876 two new engine was erected, another 60″ pumping engine on Harvey’s shaft made by Harvey & Co and a 48″ engine on Hughes. Hughes shaft also had a man engine installed at some point, the only one in the southern hemisphere.

Lastly was Elder’s 80″ pumping engine, a second hand engine made by Harvey & Co for the New Cornwall Mine for £30,000. This venture collapsed in 1887 and the steam engine was sold to Wallaroo for just a tenth of the price, stones and all. There were three other engine houses built at some point, all were whim engines on Young’s Taylor’s and Office shafts.

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Shafts on the mine include Robinson, Hosking, Elder, Home, Hancock, Smith New, Weighbridge, Harvey, North Hughes, Higgs, Hughes, Richman, North Mair, Mair, Youngs, Old Engine, Matta, Stirling, North Young, Boors and Office.

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Kapunda Mine

Caitlin — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 06:52:50 +0000

The Kapunda Mine, established in 1844, was the first successful copper mine in Australian history.

Copper was actually discovered here two years prior by Francis Dutton and Charles Bagot; they however kept this a secret, buying up 80 acres of land for just £80 ($13,246/£6940 today) while continuing to survey the area. The mine was initially split, with one half being Wheal Charles and the other Wheal Dutton. The combined name of Kapunda came from the local Ngadjuri name for spring or jumping water “cappie oonda”.

The assay results of their find proved fruitful, so by 1944 the mine was officially opened and by the following year was down 10 fathoms (18m) and needed a horse whim to remove water.

As the mine deepened, water became an increasing problem and an engine house was erected in 1848 with a 30″ engine. This was called Draft engine and was the first Cornish engine in Australia. Bought from Wheal Kitty mine where it had been driving stamps, the engine was shipped on the Rachel along with an engineer to install it. At Kapunda Mine it had multiple functions, hoisting, crushing and pumping, a factor that later led to multiple breakdowns as demands increased.

The following year a smelting furnace was installed. Prior to this all ore had to be carted to Port Adelaide and then onto Wales for processing, something that would have cost a great deal of money. 1850 also saw the erection of a second engine house on the mine, a 36″ Buhl pumping engine, originally destined for Tungkillo Mine. Built by Harvey & Co, this was also shipped from Cornwall at a cost of £2,100 ($347,728/£182,195 today) and started work the following year, greatly reducing the load on Draft engine.

Between 1852 and 1855 work ceased in the area due to the Victorian Goldrush, with many miners heading east in search of greater finds. Improvements to the mine continued through the 1860’s. A rail link reached the town in 1860, reducing transport time for people and goods and a calciner and refiner were erected in 1862. During this period, subsidence around Draft engine started to damage the engine house and it was rehoused in 1861 and from then on worked exclusively as a whim.

Despite this, the mine started to make losses as ore became exhausted. In 1865 the land was leased to a Scottish company who turned their focus towards leaching, shutting down the smelting works in the process. By 1867 a new treatment plant was installed costing £60,000 ($10,531,200/£5,517,905); this used the Henderson method of leaching to treat the ore, but ultimately proved to be a failure. The mine closed in 1878, selling both of its engines to Moonta Mine in 1879 for just £215 ($36,996/£19,384).

From 1906 a small company took over Kapunda Mine and neighbouring Hillside Mine, with plans to prospect via diamond drilling. This once again didn’t prove to be much and the area was worked by a range of tribute miners up until WWI before being completely abandoned.

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Moonta Mine

Caitlin — Sun, 04 Jun 2023 02:57:59 +0000

At the center of the town of Moonta are the remains of a once great copper mine, the Moonta Mine, one that despite being on the other side of the planet was worked by a great number of Cornish men.

Copper was first discovered here in 1861 when local shepherd Patrick Ryan found copper in an old wombat hole. A race began between himself and local land owner Sir Walter Hughes to formally peg the lease. Hughes won the new mining lease and named his company Tipara Mining Association (later changed to Moonta Mining Co).

The pegging of this lease led to a huge influx of other hopefuls to the area, but none were as successful as Moonta which produced 5,000 tons (5,080,235 kg) of copper in its first year alone, totally £67,350 (worth $7,178,940 today).

In 1864 Henry Hancock took over the role of captain. He championed the expansion of the mine, purchasing a multitude of new machinery to replace either human or horse driven items like pumps and winders. Hancock also designed and patented his own air compressor drill to reduce the labour of drilling and hammering and a specialised jig to separate ore. By the following year 1,200 men and boys were employed at the mine, the number increasing to over 5,000 over the next five years.

1873 saw the introduction of a minimum wage for the mine workers, guaranteeing them £2 a week ($213 now). Hancock also enforced the miners being members of the medical club and compulsory evening classes for the employed boys.

The mine remained successful up until the 1880’s, being the first mine in Australia to pay £1 million in dividends in 1876 ($148,392,156 now). Copper prices began to dip in the 70’s and over the next ten years production decreased significantly. In 1890 it was amalgamated with neighbouring Wallaroo Mine.

From 1900 work below ground was limited to the 300 fathom level. The following year a leaching plant was set up on site to rework the tailings for more copper. World War I saw another drop in copper prices and despite the companies efforts to reduce costs, it was liquidated in 1923. For ten years between 1933 and 1943 leaching continued on the tailings, but this eventually came to an end.

All that’s left of Elder’s engine house, the mines first engine.

Engine Houses

Moonta Mine had a number of engine houses over its life, two of which stand complete today. The most prominent belongs to Hughes 60″ pumping engine house; build in 1865 on Elder’s Lode this contained an engine made by Harvey & Co of Hayle, Cornwall that worked until 1923. The other is Richmonds 32″ engine. Built in 1869 out of stone from nearby Port Hughes, the engine came second hand from Kurilla Mine and cost £2,100. Used for running crushing and dressing machinery, as the mine increased in size new boilers needed to be added; starting with just two, another five were added by 1901 and a further four six year later. The steam engine was replaced with a gas one in 1917.

Prankerds 30″ (22″ in other texts) whim was erected in 1867 and came from Tavistock along with a crusher and two boilers, costing £2,518. This engine house was later dismantled and replaced by Taylor’s horizontal whim engine. This was first built in 1901, but had to be rebuilt twice due to subsidence and later for a larger engine.

Hancock’s 35″ winding and crushing engine was a second hand beam rotative engine originally from Melbourne and was installed here in 1874 on Bower’s Lode. Ryan’s 32″ horizontal steam engine was erected in 1864 and started work the year after; it was demolished in 1906. On Truer’s shaft was an engine of the same name; this was a whim of unknown size that was built in 1906.

A view into Taylor’s shaft.

Elder’s 18″ pumping engine was installed in 1863 after a brief stint at the New Cornwall Mine in Kadina. Once Hughes engine started work, its only function was as a winder for six of the nearby shafts. From the 1870’s, Elder’s operated double decker man skips in Hughes shaft.

The last three engines have very little information associated with them, and minimal remains. Bedommes and Bower’s were both erected at some point in the 1870’s, with the former working as a whim. There may also have been an engine on Young’s shaft.

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