Copper Mining at Kapunda

I spent two hours early this morning with a very frightened dog.    A thunderstorm, but very little rain.   It started in the distance at 1.30 a.m. and faded in the opposite direction at 3.30 a.m.   Most unexpected.   Piper was unimpressed, and would not be comforted, and I must say I was not a happy bunny either.

However, the day improved after that, and we ended up with a cool but sunny day.   Perfect for the walk around the mine, 1 1/2 km of part brick and part bitumen path.    

Kapunda was a copper mining town, together with Burra and Moonta on the York Peninsula.  Kapunda was the first place to start copper mining, followed by Burra, and the two mines contributed to the colony's recovery from economic crises in the early 1840s.

Mining began here in 1844 and continued until 1879 when world copper prices fell.   However, by 1863 the main lode at Kapunda had been mined out,  Initially 100 tons of ore was produced each month.   The workforce was made up of the Irish who were the labourers, the Welsh who were the smelter specialists and the Cornish, who were the miners.  The people in charge were from England, and they controlled the mine and the town.

Unlike mines in Britain, only boys and men were allowed to take part in the mining of copper.    Boys aged 8 and older where used to break up the pieces of lode with hammers.    This was hard work.   The boys were often poorly dressed and poorly fed, and worked in areas that were very cold in winter and very hot in the summer.    They also had to attend school after they finished work.    Many of them died before they reached 12 years of age.

In fact life was very hard for most people, with infectious diseases causing many deaths.

The chimney still remains upright considering how old it is.

A model of a horse driven whim used to pull the copper ore to the surface.

Piper enjoying the walk, especially as many dogs had walked this area before her, so there were lots of doggy smells around.

A view over the open cut mines, now fenced off due to the many deep mining shafts.

The metal frame, from one of the processing areas.

The blue water at the bottom of an open cut mine shows that there is still copper there.

It is difficult in the photograph to see the areas where copper shows up against the white chalk.

A walk into one of the open cut mines.   The blue copper can be see in the rock on the right side of the photograph.

The big miner.    The very large statue that stands on the edge of the main road into Kapunda.  

                                         

This afternoon was definitely nap time, after a disturbed sleep last night and a walk around the mine.   

A day of history in Kapunda

After our coffee and cake at the local bakery we set off to follow the Heritage Trail Drive, with me driving and Walter following the map and giving directions.   Piper contributed nothing except throwing a look of boredom at us.

First off, the local hospital.    A beautiful old building, with a lacework verandah, sitting at the top of the hill.   There is another more modern building to the right of this building, which holds the Emergency Department and wards.

What we have found on our little tour is that all the small towns we have visited have hospitals, which have included Emergency Departments.   So Crystal Brook, Boolerroo Central  (20 minutes from Melrose), Quorn, Burra and now Kapunda all have hospitals.    They also have helipads to take people to Adelaide if they need further treatment.    People in these towns are more fortunate than where we live in Aldinga Beach, where our closest emergency hospital is a forty minutes drive away.   We do have one 20 minutes drive away but they always appear unwilling to attend to anything more than a minor complaint.  

There were lots of churches, most of them on the hillside, and with commanding views.   The Catholic Church of St Rose.    

Christ Church.  An Anglican Church.

Lots of beautiful white lacework on this house.

Renovated cottages.

A beautiful old house, surrounded by many trees and lawns.   It probably was part of the Baptist Church that was next door.

                                         
The Kapunda Museum, which was once the Baptist Church, built in 1866, in the Romanesque style of building.   It was quite impressive looking.

Once inside it was even more impressive, and stacked with exhibits which included everything that made up life in Kapunda.   The two floors depicting the social and commercial life in the town, plus an extensive display of agricultural machinery and motoring memorabilia.    So much stuff there, I found it hard to take it all in.   Also I was the only person in the museum, other than the man taking the money, and I found it all a little spooky, so I did not linger too long.

I was fascinated but very spooked by the dummies that were very lifelike.

The dining room.

The bedroom.   

The school room.

The church fittings from the Congregational Church, with the Minister standing at the pulpit.

The very steep stairs leading to the basement.   It took much courage to walk down those stairs.   

Some of the motor bikes and a car, with models of course.

The horse and carriage, with two passengers.

Now these two models were sitting on a two seated outdoor toilet.   Just too scary for words.   You had to open the door of the toilet to see them.    And then it had a latch at the bottom, which you had to unlatch to close the door again.   

It would have helped if Walter had been there too, but the stairs at the front were too steep, and he most certainly would not have managed the stairs within the building.   So it was a case of visiting on my own.   I think it was worth it.   

I hope I don't have nightmares about dummies tonight.

A wander along the main street of Kapunda

Early this morning I had a very bad dream.   I was teaching a primary class with an OFSTED inspector sitting on a chair taking notes.   The lesson was not going well.   Luckily I woke up and realised that firstly I no longer have to worry about OFSTED inspections and secondly I am out in the countryside in Australia.   

And for people living in Australia, OFSTED, is an acronym for the Office for Standards in Education, and now they have added Children's Services and Skills or perhaps that was always there.  OfSTED is deadly, negative and punitive.  A team will come into a school to inspect it, and observe lessons and then give a rating, or fail the school.   All in all I survived four Ofsted Inspections in the nineteen years I was in schools in England.   And I never even want to think about them again.   

But I did this morning.   And why?  I think it was due to Henley Primary School's 100th celebration and I spent some time going through the photos that were taken on the day.   Our children went to Henley Primary School in Adelaide.   Schools must have been on my brain, I think.  But OFSTED?  

Our first port of call this morning.   Coffee.   A lovely little cafe, with home made cakes, but we resisted and only bought one biscuit, which we shared.   This little cafe is for sale.

We then walked along the main street, which was bathed in bright sunshine.   Not the best for good photographs.

There were many beautiful old buildings, with modern cars in the front.

A deserted street, so often the case in country towns.    And too many empty shops.   I guess the shopping complex 23 km away draws the shoppers.    

Sister (now a Saint) Mary MacKillop started a school in Kapunda.    She came from Penola, in the South East.

The main street has many murals, which gives the town quite an appeal.    The painting below portrayed some of the countryside that Sir Sidney Kidman (1857 to 1935) owned and operated as part of his cattle properties.    He was known as 'the Cattle King' and was an Australian pastoralist and entrepreneur.   In front of the painting was a bust of Sir Sidney Kidman.

I am not sure what this painting is about, too busy taking photos.

A scene depicting the main street of Kapunda.

I could not resist having my photograph next to this man.   Made of wire I think.  

The football grandstand, with its iron lacework.   Must be quite old, I think.

A beautiful sunset tonight, and tomorrow will be a warm day, I think.

Tomorrow we are going to follow the Heritage Trail, by car.

Kapunda, our home for the next five nights.

It took us less than forty minutes to pack up this morning, and today it included a trip to the waste point in order to empty the caravan toilet.   We must have have been overly slow packing up in Melrose.    Good news on the 40 minutes though, perhaps we need to aim for half an hour now.   

After coffee at our now most popular cafe we drove south in the direction of Kapunda.  It was not the most direct route but we were keen to try another road.    In this case the road went by the name of the Worlds End Highway and it took us through a little settlement called Robertstown, which had a school and closed shops, and ended at the town of Eudunda, which is about 26 km from Kapunda.

We wondered about the name of the road 'Worlds End Highway'.   Perhaps the early European settlers saw this road as leading to the end of civilisation.   Google could not tell me either.   Perhaps I need to ask a local.   

It was quite a pleasant journey, the tar sealed road was reasonably smooth.   Just an added bit of information here, for those people who do not live in Australia.   Just because the road is sealed does not mean that it is a good road, as there will be potholes, filled in potholes, rough extensions to widen the road, and grooves where trucks have indented the tarmac.   And of course there are the kangaroos and emus that pop out unexpectedly in front of you.   

In fact I ran over a dead kangaroo today, luckily it did not fasten itself to the bottom of the caravan.    I so remember the dead goat that I spent some time cleaning off the bottom of the caravan two years ago.   And yes I did get another lecture from Walter about driving over dead animals but the kangaroo was on a bend with the 'no passing line' beside it.   I was not going over to the other side of the road, to have a head on collision with a vehicle coming towards me.   One has to weigh up the consequences. 

But I digress.   Other than the town of Robertstown, it was mostly dry looking farmland, with a few sheep grazing on dry grass and crops that had already been cut.  Interestingly there were quite a few old churches which had been converted into houses.    There was a line of low hills to the right of the road, which looked very pretty, in a dry sort of way, in the morning light. 

We are now in the camping ground in Kapunda, and it is a beautiful spot, right on the edge of a large pond, with a golf course on the other side.   As well as the golf course there is a football field/cricket ground, a horse trotting course, tennis courts and a bowling ground.   And everything is green, and well watered by the looks of it.   Plus beautifully maintained.  Such a find.

The sites are spacious.   Interestingly I was not given a sheet of paper with the rules and regulations on it.  Just told to drive onto the site, and the toilets do not have codes on them.   I am so impressed with the country camping grounds in South Australia.   

                                         

Our view over the large pond.

Plus some beautiful trees.

We went for a little drive, which took us up the hill behind the town.   The view over the town.

Plus the view over the surrounding land.

I now have a little cash, just in case.   However, the machine charged me $2.90 for the pleasure of getting it.   It is impossible to win, using a card mostly incurs a surcharge, and using cash results in paying extra to withdraw it.   I realise that I need to get the cash from the supermarket when I buy groceries but I am so out of the habit of doing this.    Interestingly there are no banks in the small towns we have visited, only the banks that use the local post office.   So much has changed, with me being unaware of it all.

The historic town of Burra

Burra, an historic town, with heaps of atmosphere and beautiful old stone houses.    Now a pastoral centre as well as a tourist town.      The name Burra came from the Burra Burra river that runs through the town.

It was founded in 1845 and until 1877 was the site of one of the world's major copper mines, but over the next thirty years or so, the mining fizzled out.  I guess the copper ore ran out or it was easier to mine it elsewhere of the need for copper declined over that time.

The old mine buildings and mine area,  plus various other buildings, such as the Redruth Gaol, Unicorn Brewery Cellars, Miners Dugouts, and one of the Paxton Cottages, can be viewed as part of the Burra Heritage Passport Tour.    The key code is obtained from the Tourist Office here, and the self guided tour takes most of the day.    We did this tour on a very hot March day in 2020, just before everything was closed due to the Covid pandemic.   A fascinating tour. 

On this visit, and on our previous visit in May 2023, we spent the time soaking up the atmosphere of the town.    And spending a bit of money in the shops.   This time I bought a new jumper and a HEMA road map

We also found a new cafe, with a lovely courtyard.    And great coffee and chocolate chip biscuits.   Plus they gave Piper a small container of yoghurt, so a hit with her too.   

The war memorial and rotunda in Market Square.

The beautiful glory vine covering the front of the pharmacy.

A very high footpath, luckily with guard rails protecting people from falling onto the road.   There is a cafe here as well, which we really liked until we found the one with the courtyard.   

Paxton Square Cottages, now fully restored and made into self contained holiday cottages.   Each one contains one or two bedrooms, kitchen, living room and bathroom, and are air conditioned and from the number of cars parked at the back, most were occupied during this weekend.

The cottages take up three sides of a square, with lawns and carparks in the centre.  Originally they were miners' cottages, built in the 1800s.   One of the cottages has been left as it would have looked like initially and can be viewed as part of the Heritage Tour.

I had intended to take some photographs of the beautiful houses here with their curved tin roofs over the verandahs plus wrought iron lacework.    Most of them had cottage gardens, with roses out in full bloom.

Sadly I only took one photograph which was the house across the road from the camping ground.

The Unicorn Brewery site has an enormous cellar that can be viewed as part of the Heritage Tour.   All I could see today were the light/air vents in the courtyard.   The brewery opened in 1873 and closed in 1902 due to new licensing laws in South Australia.   In 1913 the large tower and chimney that was here was dismantled and the bricks were used to build two cottages next door.

Burra Community School, which houses both primary and secondary students, is by the camping ground.  The photograph below shows the beautiful old school building.   The new building, built in 1976, is behind the old school buildings.   The school. built in 1878 was called Burra Model School and was for students from 5 years to 13 years.   Compulsory education for primary school children also began in South Australia in 1878.  In 1913 the school was extended to include a secondary school.

The school has extensive playing fields which are open to the community.   Piper was in her element chasing a ball.   Not quite the beach but nearly as good.   The grass was green and lush as well.   

Tomorrow we drive south to Kapunda, which was another old mining town.