When the Industrial Revolution was in full swing in 19th century England, machinery was at a premium and this meant a shortage of metals. Major English, Scottish and Welsh companies turned their sights on South Australia after a rich belt of copper was found. Its exploitation not only satisfied the demands in England, but brought much needed revenue to a colony close to bankruptcy.
The mines and smelters of what is referred to as the Copper Triangle (Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo) were large establishments by world standards in the nineteenth century. Though the copper deposits have long since run out, the remnants of the mines, the miners and the towns they built remain and provide a fascinating window into the unique Cornish-influenced past for visitors. The legacy of those activities lives on in the former mining towns of Yorke Peninsula and the South Australian Wheatbelt.
Miners' cottages, Burra
Location: head of Yorke Peninsula, and the wheatbelt district, SA
Length: 307 km (southern loop only); add 367 km if the northern loop via Gladstone, Wilmington and Peterborough is included in the journey
Suggested return journey: the drive can be taken as a loop starting and finishing in Adelaide, or can be incorporated as part of a journey through the region, travelling north from Adelaide or south from Port Augusta. For the purpose of this exercise, this drives starts at Port Wakefield and finishes on the outskirts of the Barossa Valley, however you can start or finish the drive from anywhere in the region.
Features/attractions: old copper mining towns, copper mine ruins; South Australian wheatbelt; Clare and Barossa Valley wine regions; Yorke Peninsula
Minimum duration (one way): 1 day
As this drive visits many very interesting places with plenty to stop and look at, we recommend you allow much more than the 1 day minimum duration if you are to get the most out of a tour through the Copper Belt. There is far more to see and do than we have the space to document here, so we recommend you look out the visitor information centres at each of the major localities who will provide you with all the information you need to get those most out of your tour.
Moonta Bay
From Port Wakefield, drive north west to what is known as the Copper Triangle, a small area roughly 160 km northwest of Adelaide in which the towns of Moonta, Wallaroo and Kadina are the points of the triangle. Moonta was the home to the richest cooper mine in Australia during the end of the 19th century. Considered by some as 'Australia's Little Cornwall' a title perhaps taken from the fact that the first miners to the area were Cornishmen, a fact reinforced by the biannual Cornish Festival held in May.
The towns of Moonta, Wallaroo and Kadina at the head of South Australia's Yorke Peninsula are the corner points of what is known as the Copper Triangle. The richest cooper mines in Australia lay within this small area. The mines and smelters of the Copper Triangle were large establishments by world standards in the nineteenth century.
Where is it?: Yorke Peninsula. Moonta is 165 kilometres north-northwest of Adelaide.
Moonta is today considered by some as 'Australia's Little Cornwall' as the first miners to the area were from Cornwall, a fact reinforced by their influence on the architecture of the town, and their cultural impact which is still celebrated with the bi-annual Kernewek Lowender Copper Coast Cornish Festival held in May.
Kernewek Lowender
The largest Cornish Festival in the World, Kernewek Lowender reflects the influence of Cornish miners on the town's of Yorke Peninsula's copper triangle - Moonta (which hosts the event), Wallaroo and Kadina. From small beginning in 1973, the festival today attracts over 30,000 people to Moonta in odd numbered years in May. Renowned for its many free events, street processions, church services and art and craft displays, it gives a chance for many Australians to celebrate Cornish ancestry. Kernewek Lowender the Cornish words for Cornish happiness, really describes what the festival has come to represent.
One of the things Moonta is most famous for is the Cornish Pasty. Cornish miners used to take their lunch to work in a package of pastry - so it wouldn't get dirty. The pastry was joined along the top with a ridge so that it could be easily carried. The miner would open the pastry, and find in one end meat and vegetable; the other end would have fruit and jam for dessert. Moonta and other 19th century copper mining towns around South Australia, attacted miners from Cornwall in England, who brought with them their culture and traditions, which included the Cornish pasty.
Today you can still buy delicious meat and vegetable filled traditional pasties in Moonta. The Cornish Kitchen in Moonta is famous for their authentic and original Cornish pasties and the home of the Cornish Pasty in Australia. On an average day this bakery produces 300 to 400 pasties a day, some of which are sent all over the country. The Cornish Kitchen, Ellen Street, Moonta.
Moonta Mines, 2 km away from the town, is the site of the town's legendary copper mines. Most of the old infrastructure remains, including mine shafts, enginehouses, waste dumps, railway tracks and Cornish miners' cottages. Many relics from Kadina's copper mining days can be found on the outskirts of town. The port of Walleroo has an excellent maritime museum.
Hughes Pump House is today a ruin but from the time it was built in 1865 to the closure of the mine in 1923 it pumped water from the neighbouring mine shaft as well as the nearby Taylor's Shaft. Today, it forms part of the Moonta Mines State Heritage Area, which also includes Richman's Engine House (1869).
Mining relics at the mine at Wheal Hughes Mine, an old miners cottage nearby, a Methodist church and the old school, which is now a folk museum, tell the story of the Copper Triangle. Mining relics can also be seen at Wallaroo and Kadina.
One of the towns of South Australia's copper Triangle, Kadina is the largest town on the Yorke Peninsula, and the main commercial centre for the region. Like Moonta, it has strong Cornish influences from the migration of Cornish miners to the area in the 19th century. 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 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 remnants of 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 well worth a visit. 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.
Wallaroo is a key shipping port for the Yorke Peninsula, the former copper mining centre now ships locally grown barley and wheat, processes rock phosphate and manufactures fertilisers. Wallaroo offers excellent beachfront camping/caravan facilities and a range of low energy, relatively safe beaches. The first sight the traveller has of Wallaroo is that of the looming grain silos. Here is a town which is a strange mixture of seaside resort (there are some delightful cabins beside the sea and some excellent fish and chip shops) and working, industrial town. Wallaroo's importance is based on its role as the major port for the vast copper deposits which were found and mined at Moonta.
From the towns of the Copper Triangle, travel north east through farmlands to Bute, Snowtown and Brinkworth. Approximately 40 kilometres east of Wallaroo and 24 kilometres west of Snowtown, Bute was named after the Isle of Bute, in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. A free-to-view fauna park on the Snowtown Road is maintained by the Bute Lions Club. Visitors can view emus, peacocks, waterfowl, red kangaroos and other wildlife contained within fenced enclosures. The park also features barbecue facilities and picnic areas.
A sleepy Wheatbelt town situated between the Mt. Lofty Ranges and the Barunga Range, Snowtown achieved notoriety in 1999 when it was discovered to be the site of the largest serial killing in Australia. The putrefying remains of eight people were discovered in six barrels inside the town's disused bank building in what were to become known as the 'bodies-in-the-barrels' murders. The town had its beginnings when pioneer farmers arrived around 1868, the year in which the Snowtown pub was built.
In 2008, TrustPower completed the first stage of the 47-turbine Snowtown Wind Farm in the Barunga and Hummocks ranges just west of Snowtown. The wind turbines are 110 metres from the ground to tip of the top wing. In February 2014 the wind farm became the largest in South Australia with the opening of the second stage. It tripled its capacity of operation, which in a year was enough to power the Sydney Opera House for 55 years.
he Brinkworth area was first settled in the 1860s and the town laid out in 1892 as a railway town. Brinkworth is named after the early landowner, George Brinkworth. Brinkworth was a major railway junction described as “the Great Junction of the Blyth, Snowtown and Gladstone Railways”. The railway’s history can be easily appreciated by reading the informative signs along the Peppertree Trail, a 2.4km return walk along the old track, from the original stockyards to the junction where the lines diverged to Blyth or Snowtown. The town's hotel is appropriately called the Junction Hotel.
If you have the time, the northern loop drive through the northern wheatbelt taking in the towns of Gladstone, Laura, Melrose, Wilmington, Orroroo, Peterborough, Jamestown and then to Clare is highly recommended. The northern loop adds 367 km to the trip, and can easily take up an extra days but is well worth it as there is plent interest to see. If you are short on time, from Brinkworth, proceed direct to the town of Clare (32 km) in the heart of the Clare Valley wine region (southern loop). Taking the northern loop you will also eventually bring you to Clare and the Clare Valley wine region.
If taking the northern loop, at Brinkworth, take the turn-off north to Gladstone. A Wheatbelt service town, Gladstone was once a major railway head. It boasts the largest grain silos in South Australia. Gladstone is the southern gateway to the Flinders Ranges via the Horrocks Highway (previously Main North Road). A walk around the town provides much of the town's interesting past. The small but shady Tresylva Park provides electric barbecues, a large lawn covered area, public and disabled toilets, playground and ample parking. There s plenty of room to walk the dog or stretch your legs too. Gladstone Street has public and disabled toilets and now offers long vehicle parking facilities and a new children's playground. Eat out but under cover in the street shelters.
Laura is a small and attractive township located on the eastern slopes of the lower Flinders Ranges 218 km from Adelaide. It is a town characterised by one of the widest main streets in South Australia with stands of peppercorns and gumtrees enhancing the street. Today the shopping centre is quite unusual in the sense that there are little blocks of two or three shops separated by a few houses, then a few more shops - all this is in the long main street. In recent times its future has been tied to a proliferation of gift and craft shops which have breathed new life into the town.
An attractive small township at the foot of Mt. Remarkable, Melrose proudly declares itself the 'oldest town in the Flinders Ranges'. Melrose is a quiet and attractive town nestled below the Flinders Ranges. There are many interesting historic buildings in town and the area around the town is ideal for bushwalking. A Goyder's Line marker outside of town indicates a line marked on the map of South Australia by Surveyor General Goyder in 1865 delineating drought affected country. The line which passes through this area became an important factor in the settlement of South Australia as it indicated the limits of lands considered safe for agricultural development.
Originally known as Beautiful Valley, Wilmington is nestled in a lovely part of the lower Flinders, surrounded by highly productive rural holdings. From Wilmington visitors can access Hancock's Lookout, Mount Maria Walking Trail, Mt. Remarkable National Park and Alligator Gorge.
Orroroo is a rural centre in the foothills of the Flinders Ranges on the edge of South Australia's marginal desert land. The Tank Hill Lookout on the eastern side of town provides views across the town and region. To the east the view encompasses the now disused, but full, Pekina Reservoir. On the way to the top are ancient Aboriginal carvings.
A railway town at the junction of the Port Pirie to Broken Hill line and the Adelaide to Quorn, Port Augusta, Hawker, Leigh Creek and Marree, it is the eastern gateway to South Australia for those coming from New South Wales via Broken Hill. Its greatest claim to fame is that it is one of only two places in Australia (the other is Gladstone) where three railway gauges met. This particular absurdity was the result of different state governments being unable (or unwilling) to agree on a standard railway gauge. Peterborough has a wonderful railway museum that is worth a look.
From Peterborough, travel south along Cleary Road (23.5 km) where you will meet the Barrier Highway at Terowie.
A designated historic former railway town which marked the northern region's change of railway gauge. Terowie came into existence as part of the railway network which was built in South Australia in the late 19th century. Consequently it has a large number of interesting and significant historic houses and the surrounding area (particularly the 91.5 km Hallett-Terowie Circuit Tour) has a rich variety of historical sites as well as extensive fauna and flora. There are old hardware stores and blacksmith's shops in the main street which have all the charm of something from the 1880s.
Terowie station
Terowie station is where in 1942, General Douglas McArthur stood on the platform and gave his first press conference after emerging from the war-ravaged Asian islands, and made his famous declaration "I will return".
Continue south along Barrier Highway to Burra (64 km).
Burra is a wonderful old copper mining town, with many historic buildings, miner's dugouts, pretty Cornish cottages and National Trust sites still remaining. Once the largest inland centre in Australia, Burra is today a well preserved historic town, with a very informative museum at the mine site. Usually when I'm in Burra a treat myself to a genuine Cornish Pastie for lunch.
A rich lode of copper discovered in the banks of the Burra Burra Creek in 1845 saved South Australia from bankruptsy. Today, thanks to the no-nonsense craftsmanship of its original masons and carpenters, Burra survives as a living museum of the industrial and domestic architecture of the mid-1800s. The ruins of the mine shafts, chimneys, engine houses and powder magazines still stand today as stark monuments to the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in a peaceful rural setting.
From Burra, take Farrell Flat Road for a visit to the Clare Valley wine region via Hanson, Farrell Flat and Mintaro.
This tranquil village is located among rolling hills in rich pastoral country and featuring a number of superb Clare Valley wineries. It has been classified as an Heritage Town. Mintaro is within the Clare Valley wine region and has two winery cellar doors offering tasting and sales of their superb wines, a few galleries, charming eateries and a Maze. It also boasts a number of character Bed and Breakfast establishments, and the Magpie & Stump Hotel.
Martindale Hall
Martindale Hall is one of South Australia's best known historic houses and notable pastoral homesteads. Built on gently rising ground near the village of Mintaro, it commands a wide view across the countryside. This 19th century Georgian manor 'starred' as Appleyard College in the award winning Australian film 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'. It offers visitors an experience of life in another era.
The region is one of Australia s oldest wine-producing areas, with a winemaking history dating back 150 years. The first vineyards were planted in the 1830s by European settlers, who built stone hewn structures and cottages alongside the vines. The Clare Valley is one of Australia's leading wine regions. The most important white variety is Riesling, with the Clare Valley regarded as its Australian home. Principal red varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Many other lesser varieties are also grown, including Chardonnay, Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Tempranillo and Grenache.
The region's 40 wineries, most of which have cellar doors, make a range of styles of varietal wines, reflecting different approaches to winemaking as well as the influences of the various sub-regions and micro-climates in the valleys. Each season, the landscape of the region changes in colour and vista. From the golden red in autumn, the lush greenery in spring, and the morning mist in winter, the vineyards of the Clare Valley are a picturesque site. Grapegrowers claim the unique combination of geography, geology and climate, results in terroir that is perfect for producing world-class wine. Warm days, coupled with cool nights during the growing season provide favourable conditions for most wine varieties grown in the region.
Sevenhill Winery
From Mintaro it is a short drive to Clare, the major town and service centre in the heart of the Clare Valley, one of South Australia's premier wine growing districts. The Clare Valley Region today hosts a vibrant, diversified rural community and economy. The delightful rolling hills create beautiful landscapes, dotted with wonderful stone buildings. The Region attracts many discerning tourists, both domestic and international, who delight and relax in the friendly environment. Major attractions include the unique, boutique wineries and cellar doors, treed landscapes that can be easily accessed on The Riesling Trail (walk or cycle), the fine stone buildings and homes, and the excellent local cuisine. Regular markets create opportunities to mix with the locals and immerse yourself in unique activities.
Kapunda copper mine
70 km south east of Clare, on the outer skirts of the Barossa Valley wine region, is the town of Kapunda, another historic copper mining town with strong roots back to the Cornish miners who worked the copper deposits here. Part of the original mine has been preserved as a walk-through open air museum.
Kapunda is a large and prosperous township which has enjoyed three clear periods of development - the period of copper mining, the period when it was the base for Sir Sidney Kidman's huge cattle operations, and the current period when it has become an important service centre for the surrounding rural area. A place with the reputation of being the most haunted town in Australia, Kapunda was a keystone in the early development of South Australia. It also has the distinction of being the oldest copper mining town in Australia, but not the oldest copper mine.
To the east of Kapunda is the town of Truro, where an old mine shaft (Wheal Barton) has been preserved and can be visited. Copper continued to be mined in the area until the 1970s, however agriculture, including vineyards, is the main activity today. Truro has a number of historically significant buildings including the Uniting Church, the Primary School, the bank, post office and council chambers. The town was named after Truro in Cornwall, England, by the Cornish copper miners who migrated there to work the copper deposits. During 1850 the largest copper mine in the Barossa was established 1.5 km SE of Truro, named Wheal Barton. A separate town of Barton, now part of Truro, was formed nearby.
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