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.