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| Looking down
the main street in Kadina
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Kadina
Historic copper mining full of interesting
buildings and ruins.
Located 150 km north-west of Adelaide and 44 m
above sea level, Kadina is the largest town on
the Yorke Peninsula.
The town owes its existence entirely to the
discovery of copper. In 1866 R. P. Whitworth
wrote: 'The country was never considered fit for
anything until one of the oldest resident
settlers, Captain Hughes, discovered that under
the valueless surface, there were chances of
great wealth in store for himself and others. He
found traces of existing copper-bearing lodes on
the beach near his station, and for years tried
to follow those traces back into the country,
but unsuccessfully until at length in the year
1860 a shepherd [James Boor], who was remarkably
intelligent man, discovered copper ore thrown to
the surface by the wombats in their burrowing
under the limestone crust.'
The area had been inhabited by Narrunga
Aborigines prior to European settlement and it's
name comes probably from their word 'caddy-yeena'
or 'caddy-inna' which is thought to mean 'lizard
plain'.
The discovery of copper changed the entire
area. From marginal agricultural land, which
Walter Watson Hughes and John Duncan had been
trying to graze sheep on, it quickly developed.
The town of Kadina was laid out in 1861. By 1862
the Wombat Hotel (named after the animals who
had discovered the copper) was open for business
and a horse-drawn railway was operating at the
Wallaroo Mine.
The real future of the area came with the
creation of a copper mining company in 1862
centred around Matta. The company was formed by
raising £60,000 which was made up of 12,000
shares of £5 each. Over the next few years the
company dug to a depth of 40 metres and
extracted 1,500 tonnes of 23 per cent pure
copper ore. By 1866 the Matta mine was bringing
50 tonnes of ore per week to the surface.
The presence of copper attracted large
numbers of Cornish miners to the area (there
were considerable copper deposits in Cornwall at
the time and they emigrated to Australia
bringing with them their mining expertise).
Kadina and the nearby towns of Wallaroo and
Moonta form a triangle which is known as 'Little
Cornwall'. By 1875 there were 20,000 people in
the district and most of them were of Cornish
origin. This Cornish tradition is celebrated
each odd year (the next one will be in 2005)
with the Kernewek Lowender (a Cornish Festival)
which is held in May.
The town became a municipality in 1872 and
the main railway line opened in 1878. It was
during the 1870s, particularly during periods of
drought, that farmers used the machinery from
the mines to distil water.
By 1890 the copper mining companies in the
district had amalgamated to become the largest
industrial company in South Australia. For the
next 33 years they employed between 1900 and
2700 people.
Copper mining continued to dominate the
town's economy until 1923 and by 1938 mining in
the area had completely stopped. In their time
the mines around Kapunda had extracted 3.5
million tonnes of ore.
Things to see:
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| Harvey¹s
Engine House at the Wallaroo Mine
Historical Site |
Wallaroo Mine
Located about 1.5 km south-west of the town
centre (take the Moonta Road south and turn west
into Matta Road are the remnants of the Wallaroo
Mine. All the important destinations in the site
are clearly marked and the site is easy to
locate because of the stone ruins of Harvey's
Enginehouse.
Matta House & Heritage Museum
An outstanding museum surrounded by interesting
buildings which all reflect the wealth which
flowed into the area as a result of the
discovery of copper. Located 1.5 km south of the
town centre it comprises Matta House (a mine
manager's house built in 1863 which has a
shingle roof and is furnished with Victoriana),
a large and comprehensive printing museum,
displays of old mining equipment, an extensive
photographic collection, a blacksmith's shop, an
old band rotunda, and a superb and extensive
display of old farming equipment. It is also
possible to inspect the famous Matta mine shaft
which, by 1866, was being used to extract 50
tonnes of copper ore per week. The complex, now
under control of the National Trust of South
Australia, is open Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday,
2.00 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., school and public
holidays 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. For further
information contact either (08) 8821 1083 or
(08) 8821 1564
Walking Tour of Kadina and Historic
Buildings
There is an excellent publication, Discovering
Historic Kadina, published by the District
Council of Northern Yorke Peninsula, which not
only has a very detailed history of mining in
and around Kadina but also includes the
excellent Kadina Heritage Trail. The Kadina
Heritage Trail is very well signposted and
encompasses all the major historical sites in
the town including the Kadina Railway Station
(1878), the Banking and Currency Museum (1874),
the Church of Christ (1920), the beautiful stone
residences in Lipson Avenue (c.1900), the
Pioneer Cemetery (c.1860), the Wallaroo Mine
(1860) and the former Police Residence (c.1900).
In total there are 38 places of historic
interest in the town. There is also a smaller 19
places of interest on a Kadina Walking Trail.
Banking & Currency Museum
This museum, located in Kadina's oldest bank
(built in 1874 for the Bank of South Australia)
includes just about every imaginable aspect of
currency and banking from old coins and a wide
variety of currencies to historic ledgers and
cash books. The material is well displayed and
exceptionally interesting. It is open every day
10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., except Fridays,
Saturdays and Christmas Day, and June, but open
on the June long weekend. Tel: (08) 8821 2906
