Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. It lies east of the
Clare Valley
The Clare Valley is a valley located in South Australia about north of Adelaide in the Clare and Gilbert Valleys council area. It is the river valley formed by the Hutt River but is also strongly associated with the roughly parallel Hill Riv ...
in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern
Mount Lofty Ranges
The Mount Lofty Ranges are a range of mountains in the Australian state of South Australia which for a small part of its length borders the east of Adelaide. The part of the range in the vicinity of Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and ...
, 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 is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
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 (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
and Germany. The mine first closed in 1877, briefly opened again early in the 20th century and for a last time from 1970 to 1981.
When the mine was exhausted and closed the population shrank 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 the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
in Australia, as a historic tourist centre.
[Auhl, I 1980, p. 11]
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.
Geology and geography
Burra is located within the
Hundred of Kooringa a few kilometres inside
Goyder's Line, near Burra, Baldina and Gum
creeks. The lies within the
Temperate Grassland of South Australia
The Iron-grass Natural Temperate Grassland of South Australia is a temperate grassland in the southeast of South Australia that stretches from Orroroo in the north, to Strathalbyn in the south, just straddling the eastern fringes of Adelaide's ...
.
The main body of copper ore formed between two
geological fault
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
s in broken
dolomite Dolomite may refer to:
*Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral
*Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock
*Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community
*Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...
rocks. The ore body was up to
70 metres (230 ft) wide and mainly consisted of green
malachite
Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fractures ...
and blue
azurite
Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the Type locality (geology), type locality at Chessy, Rhône, Chessy-les-Mines near ...
veins
Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated b ...
and
nodules
Nodule may refer to:
*Nodule (geology), a small rock or mineral cluster
*Manganese nodule, a metallic concretion found on the seafloor
*Nodule (medicine), a small aggregation of cells
*Root nodule
Root nodules are found on the roots of plants, p ...
amongst the host rock. The malachite and azurite were formed from
copper sulphide
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.
Prominent copper sulfide minerals ...
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.
Etymology
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
Creek
A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet.
Creek may also refer to:
People
* Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans
...
that flows through the town. From at least 1851 the collection of townships near the mine became referred to as "The Burra".
[Auhl, I 1986, p. 101] 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. As early as July 1843, when the locality was already a sheep outstation for pastoralist
William Peter
William Peter (22 March 1788 – 6 February 1853) was a British diplomat and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1835.
Peter was born at Harlyn, St Merryn, Cornwall, the son of Henry Peter and his wife Anna Maria. He w ...
of Manoora, it was known as ''Burrow Creek''. Despite that obvious (though misspelt) connection to the indigenous
Ngadjuri people
The Ngadjuri people are a group of Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lie in the mid north of South Australia with a territory extending from Gawler in the south to Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges in the north.
Name
Their ethno ...
, a later theory persistently postulates that it comes from the
Hindustani for 'great great', used by Indians shepherds working for another early pastoralist,
James Stein
James Stein (c.1804 – 25 October 1877) was a pioneering settler of the Mid North of South Australia and founder of the Kadlunga pastoralism estate.
Early life and family
James Stein was closely associated with Scottish nobility. A scion of a ...
, to refer to creek. The name could also have come from Stein's home country of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
or a number of
Aboriginal
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to:
*Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology
* Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area
*One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
languages.
A so-called
English Burra Burra was discovered in 1851 in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
in the
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape; possibly coincidentally several ancient placenames such as
Burrator
Burrator is a grouped parish council in the English county of Devon. It is entirely within the boundaries of the Dartmoor National Park and was formed as a result of the Local Government Act 1972 from the older councils of Meavy, Sheepstor and ...
in Devon and
Burraton
Burraton is a northern suburb of Saltash, Cornwall, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic S ...
in Cornwall occur nearby; also possible origins for the name. A
Burra Burra mine is located in Tennessee and named after the Australian one.
Early history
Original inhabitants
The original inhabitants of the Burra area were the
Ngadjuri
The Ngadjuri people are a group of Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lie in the mid north of South Australia with a territory extending from Gawler in the south to Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges in the north.
Name
Their ethnon ...
Aboriginal
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to:
*Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology
* Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area
*One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
people whose first Western contact was in 1839. The first European squatter in this region was
William Peter
William Peter (22 March 1788 – 6 February 1853) was a British diplomat and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1835.
Peter was born at Harlyn, St Merryn, Cornwall, the son of Henry Peter and his wife Anna Maria. He w ...
, whose head station was Gum Creek near Manoora.
Pastoralist
Pastoralist may refer to:
* Pastoralism, raising livestock on natural pastures
* Pastoral farming, settled farmers who grow crops to feed their livestock
* People who keep or raise sheep, sheep farming
Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the r ...
s grazed much of the Ngadjuri land from the 1840s and, although there was conflict, Ngadjuri people worked as
shepherd
A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...
s and
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
scourers, particularly once the area was emptied during the
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
es of the 1850s. Their population was seriously depleted by introduced
European diseases and they were reported to be
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
by 1878.
Traces remain with
rock art
In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also ...
and
burial
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
sites in the area and some people able to claim Ngadjuri
ancestry
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...
.
Discovery of copper
On 9 June 1845 William Streair bore samples of a rich
copper ore into the office of
Henry Ayers
Sir Henry Ayers (now pron. "airs") (1 May 1821 – 11 June 1897) was the eighth Premier of South Australia, serving a record five times between 1863 and 1873.
His lasting memorial is in the name Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru, which was en ...
, secretary of the
South Australian Mining Association (SAMA). Streair, a young
shepherd
A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...
in the employ of local pastoralist
James Stein
James Stein (c.1804 – 25 October 1877) was a pioneering settler of the Mid North of South Australia and founder of the Kadlunga pastoralism estate.
Early life and family
James Stein was closely associated with Scottish nobility. A scion of a ...
, 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 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 , divided into two squares, 4 miles to a side. A group of wealthy
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
s (known as "the nobs") purchased the southern half of the division and a group of
shopkeeper
A shopkeeper is a retail merchant or tradesman; one who owns or operates a small store or shop. Generally, shop employees are not shopkeepers, but are often incorrectly referred to as such. At larger companies, a shopkeeper is usually referred t ...
s,
merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...
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, 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, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
charge set off on the monster Burra Burra copper
lode and by mid-1846, the Bon Accord Mining Company had also commenced operations.
Mining
Burra Burra or 'Monster Mine'
![Burra mine works](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Burra_mine_works.JPG)
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
Sir Henry Ayers (now pron. "airs") (1 May 1821 – 11 June 1897) was the eighth Premier of South Australia, serving a record five times between 1863 and 1873.
His lasting memorial is in the name Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru, which was en ...
,
secretary
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...
of SAMA, from its opening until the 1890s.
Henry Roach
Henry Roach (1808 – 6 October 1889) was a miner from Cornwall who was Captain of the Burra copper mine in Burra, South Australia for many years.
In this position he almost always employed Cornishmen as his assistants, and most of the miners wer ...
was chief Captain, responsible for day-to-day operations, from 1847 to 1867.
The
investors had put up a total of £12,320 of which £10,000 was spent purchasing the land. The first
dividend
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...
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.
[Auhl, I 1986, p. 89] 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 is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...
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
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...
in South Australia, copper ore was initially shipped to
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. The company purchased a Cornish
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 Newco ...
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
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mining ...
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
A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', ''prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remuner ...
s and
expense
An expense is an item requiring an outflow of money, or any form of fortune in general, to another person or group as payment for an item, service, or other category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition is a ...
s. In October 1846 this caused the first
strike, of
masons
Mason may refer to:
Occupations
* Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces
* Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutt ...
and
bricklayer
A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. ...
s, with the company refusing to pay more than 8
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s per day. With declining copper prices (from £91 per
ton
Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses.
Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean
* the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds
...
in 1845 to £87 in 1848) the company continually sought to reduce wages. In August 1847 the company enticed
Thomas Burr
Thomas Burr (1813–1866), surveyor and mine manager, was a British explorer and Deputy Surveyor General of South Australia 1839–46.
Early life in England
Born 1813 in England, probably at Kent, Thomas Burr's father was George Dominicus Burr ( ...
to take over as general manager, he having resigned his post as Deputy Surveyor General of South Australia, but by September 1848 the unsatisfied company directors had sacked him. 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
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
speculators, 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
The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...
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 of copper worth £6,500 from of ore. The mine and surrounding of then pastoral land was auctioned on 24 April 1860.
Pastoral activity
From as early as 1843 shepherding had been common around Burra, with pastoral pioneers such as
James Stein
James Stein (c.1804 – 25 October 1877) was a pioneering settler of the Mid North of South Australia and founder of the Kadlunga pastoralism estate.
Early life and family
James Stein was closely associated with Scottish nobility. A scion of a ...
and
William Peter
William Peter (22 March 1788 – 6 February 1853) was a British diplomat and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1835.
Peter was born at Harlyn, St Merryn, Cornwall, the son of Henry Peter and his wife Anna Maria. He w ...
being granted
grazing
In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...
rights for their flocks 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
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
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
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
's main sheep trading centre until the mid-20th century.
The Baldina Run, a major sheep station of 50 square miles some 10 miles east of Burra, near Kooringa, was established by
Henry Ayers
Sir Henry Ayers (now pron. "airs") (1 May 1821 – 11 June 1897) was the eighth Premier of South Australia, serving a record five times between 1863 and 1873.
His lasting memorial is in the name Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru, which was en ...
in 1851, leased by J and C. B. Fisher until 1862, then taken over by Alfred Barker, son-in-law of
James Chambers.
Media
The ''
Burra Record
The ''Burra Record'' was a newspaper covering Burra and the mid-north eastern area of South Australia that was first printed in June 1876. In 1977, it merged with the ''Review-Times'' to form the ''Review-Times-Record'', which in turn became ''Th ...
'' was a
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
covering Burra and the mid-north eastern area. The ''Burra Record'' had begun life as the ''Northern Mail'', the town's first publication, which was first published on 30 June 1876. After 26 weekly issues, in 1877, it was renamed to ''Burra News and Northern Mail,'' before being renamed again in July 1878. In 1977, it merged with the ''Review-Times'' to form the ''Review-Times-Record'', which in turn became ''
The Flinders News
''The Flinders News'' is a weekly newspaper published in Port Pirie, South Australia, formed from the historic mergers of multiple Mid North, Mid-North publications and representing a combined ancestry of 12 former publications. Its earliest cons ...
'' in 1989.
Another publication was the ''County Light Times'', produced in the town from 3 March 1949 to 22 February 1951. Published by Harold Du Rieue, the newspaper's coverage included the districts of Riverton, Tarlee, Rhynie and Saddleworth.
Burra was also home to the ''Mid North Broadcaster'', a publication released from 2006 to 2013. It was formed by the merger of struggling local newspapers, the ''Peterborough Times'' (2003–2006), the ''
Burra Broadcaster The ''Burra Broadcaster'' represents two iterations of a newspaper published in the town of Burra, South Australia, covering news and community events taking place in the Regional Council of Goyder area. Originally a print newspaper (issued 1991-2 ...
'' (1991–2006), and the ''Eudunda Observer''. It was owned by the Taylor group, with editorial control via the ''
Murray Pioneer
The ''Murray Pioneer'' is a weekly newspaper published since 1892 in Renmark, South Australia. It is now owned by the Taylor Group of Newspapers.
History
The forerunner of the newspaper was the ''Renmark Pioneer'' (9 April 1892 – 4 July 191 ...
''. Its distribution included the towns of Burra, Eudunda, Jamestown and Peterborough.
Development of the town
During a visit in October 1845 to Burra by
Henry Ayers
Sir Henry Ayers (now pron. "airs") (1 May 1821 – 11 June 1897) was the eighth Premier of South Australia, serving a record five times between 1863 and 1873.
His lasting memorial is in the name Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru, which was en ...
and the
directors of SAMA the site of the township of Kooringa was chosen.
George Strickland Kingston
Sir George Strickland Kingston (23 August 1807 – 26 November 1880) was the Deputy Surveyor to William Light, engaged to survey the new colony of South Australia. He arrived in South Australia on the in 1836. Kingston was also the first Spea ...
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
A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...
, built at low cost and with insufficient housing, which forced many miners to dig makeshift homes. In the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
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.''
![Burra dugouts - exterior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Burra_dugouts_-_exterior.JPG)
Largely due to the company nature of the settlement, development was slow, with the first
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
not opening until 1859. 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 exchanges. 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
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s,
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
es,
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
s, schools, and shops and identity. In 1851 the
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
near
Bathurst, New South Wales, emptied the town of many miners. Whole families,
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
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
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
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
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
force with the movement of four
constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
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
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
and
coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
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 may refer to:
Politicians
* William F. Paxton (born 1946), American politician from Kentucky
* William A. Paxton (1837–1907), American politician and businessman from Nebraska
* Sir William Paxton (British businessman) (1744–1 ...
, 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 Clare may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land
Australia
* Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley
* Clare Valley, South Australia
Canada
* Clare (electoral district), an electoral district
* Cl ...
, and for the same area to the
house of assembly
House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level.
Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...
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
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
on 27 March 1924 from the newly formed Burra electric supply company.
The historic Burra neighbourhoods of Kooringa, Llwchwr, Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, and Graham ceased to be separately recognised and were included as part of Burra township proper in July 1940. Redruth was renamed "Burra North" at that time; it would eventually be merged with Burra as well.
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.
[Auhl, I 1986, p. 116] 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.
Townships
Redruth
![Redruth Gaol front](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Redruth_Gaol_front.JPG)
Redruth was a government township formed in 1850 to break SAMA's monopoly. It is named after
Redruth
Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also inc ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
and its streets are named after Cornish
mining towns. The township was the site of all original government buildings (
courthouse
A courthouse or court house 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-spe ...
,
gaol and
police station
A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "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, al ...
). The courthouse was erected in 1857, and
Redruth Gaol
Redruth Gaol (later the Redruth Reformatory) is a historic former prison in Burra, South Australia, now operating as a museum. It was the first prison in South Australia to be built outside of the state capital, Adelaide.
The gaol was built in 1 ...
, 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
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...
, 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
Aboriginal
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to:
*Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology
* Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area
*One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
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
Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for a ...
properties. Kooringa is still the main section of the town and is known as Burra South.
Llwchwr
Llwchwr, sometimes spelled ''Llychwr'', was built by the Patent Copper Company (later the
English and Australian Copper Company
The English and Australian Copper Company was a South Australian based company, established in 1851 from the transfer of assets of the Patent Copper Company (formerly based in Swansea, South Wales). Formed as a joint stock company, with smelting ...
) to avoid the need to ship all of the ore to
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. The streets are named after those in
Llwchwr, Wales and other nearby villages. In May 1848, the company had imported from
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
the entire smelting works comprising men, materials, tools, staff and families. 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
subdivided in 1849 forming Aberdeen (named after the east coastal city of
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
), with the company seeking to recoup some of their
investment
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
.
[Drew, G.J. 1991, p. 10] 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 line 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
Terowie.
Burra railway station is above sea level and from
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. It was erected in 1883, replacing the original building. Regular passenger services ended at the end of 1986, with the last passenger train being an
ARHS steam train on 19 September 1992. After falling into disrepair, the station building has been renovated for use as a visitor centre and
B&B.
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 town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
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-tripper
A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location that ...
s and are from
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, over 40% of the visitors come from outside South Australia and over 50% stay overnight.
[Cegielski et al. (2001), pp. 31–32]
The town and mine are both well preserved with many original buildings, the water filled
open cut mine
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mining ...
, 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
Redruth Gaol (later the Redruth Reformatory) is a historic former prison in Burra, South Australia, now operating as a museum. It was the first prison in South Australia to be built outside of the state capital, Adelaide.
The gaol was built in 1 ...
, miners'
dugout cottages in the creek bank, a row of miners' cottages built in 1850, the cellars of the demolished
Unicorn Brewery
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years or ...
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".
[Drew, G.J. 1991, p. 3]
Timeline
See also
*
List of reduplicated Australian place names
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
South Australian History – BurraBurra Visitor & Information CentreRetrieved 15 August 2011
{{authority control
Cornish-Australian culture
Mid North (South Australia)
Copper mines in South Australia
Mining towns in South Australia