Burra, South Australia

The original inhabitants of the Burra area were the Ngadjuri Aboriginal people whose first Western contact was in 1839. The first European squatter in this region was William Peter, whose head station was Gum Creek near Manoora. Pastoralists grazed much of the Ngadjuri land from the 1840s and, although there was conflict, Ngadjuri people worked as shepherds and wool scourers, particularly once the area was emptied during the gold rushes of the 1850s. Their population was seriously depleted by introduced European diseases and they were reported to be extinct by 1878.[9] Traces remain with rock art and burial sites in the area and some people able to claim Ngadjuri ancestry.

On 9 June 1845 William Streair bore samples of a rich copper ore into the office of Henry Ayers, secretary of the South Australian Mining Association (SAMA). Streair, a young shepherd in the employ of local pastoralist James Stein, had walked the 90 miles from Burra[10] 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.[11]

Governor George Grey had amended land grant regulations forcing the hundred of Kooringa to be a 20,000-acre (8,100 ha) rectangle, placing the two copper finds at opposite ends.[12] 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 8 by 4 miles (12.9 by 6.4 km), divided into two squares, 4 miles to a side.[13] A group of wealthy capitalists (known as "the nobs") purchased the southern half of the division and a group of shopkeepers, merchants and SAMA (collectively known as "the snobs") the northern half.[14]

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, 347 acres (140 ha) 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 charge set off on the monster Burra Burra copper lode and by mid-1846, the Bon Accord Mining Company had also commenced operations.[15]

Burra Burra open cut mine pit. Original working buildings in the background

Until 1860 the mine was the largest metals mine in Australia.[16] 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.[17] The mine's Adelaide operation was run by Henry Ayers, secretary of SAMA, from its opening until the 1890s.[18] Henry Roach was chief Captain, responsible for day-to-day operations, from 1847 to 1867.[19] The investors had put up a total of £12,320 of which £10,000 was spent purchasing the land. The first dividend 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.[20] 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 and closed.[21]

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.[22] Due to the lack of smelting in South Australia, copper ore was initially shipped to Cornwall. The company purchased a Cornish beam engine 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 the mine.[23] 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.[24]

Over the life of the mine, Henry Ayers jealously preserved shareholder profits by ruthlessly controlling wages and expenses. In October 1846 this caused the first strike, of masons and bricklayers, with the company refusing to pay more than 8 shillings per day. With declining copper prices (from £91 per ton in 1845 to £87 in 1848) the company continually sought to reduce wages. In August 1847 the company enticed Thomas 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.[25]

By April 1848 the mine was employing 567 people and supporting a population of 1,500 in the township of Kooringa.[26] 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.[20]

The Bon Accord Mining Company was formed on behalf of Scottish 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.[27] 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 as a museum.[28]

The Princess Royal Mine was never successful, and in June 1859 the Princess Royal Mining Company closed its doors.[29] During its brief life the mine produced 468 long tons (476 t) of copper worth £6,500 from 888 long tons (902 t) of ore. The mine and surrounding 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of then pastoral land was auctioned on 24 April 1860.[30]

Redruth Gaol, used in the film Breaker Morant

Redruth was a government township formed in 1850 to break SAMA's monopoly. It is named after Redruth in Cornwall and its streets are named after Cornish mining towns. The township was the site of all original government buildings (courthouse, gaol and police station). The courthouse was erected in 1857,[51] and Redruth Gaol, built in 1856, was the first country gaol in South Australia. From 1897 to 1922, the gaol was used as a girls' reformatory.[52] SAMA delayed building in Redruth when they bought 77 of the 120 lots on offer at the initial land auction, paying almost 20 times the overall reserve price.[53]

Kooringa was the first company township in Australia[50] and, until the closure of the mine, was maintained as a strictly company-run town. The township's name is derived from the Aboriginal word kuri-ngga meaning either in the circle or locality of the sheoak.[9] 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 properties. Kooringa is still the main section of the town and is known as Burra South.

Llwchwr, sometimes spelled Llychwr, was built by the Patent Copper Company (later the English and Australian Copper Company) to avoid the need to ship all of the ore to Wales. The streets are named after those in Llwchwr, Wales and other nearby villages. In May 1848, the company had imported from Swansea the entire smelting works comprising men, materials, tools, staff and families.[54] Smelting was reported to be in operation by May 1849.

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 in Scotland), with the company seeking to recoup some of their investment.[55] 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.[56] 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.[57]

The broadgauge railway eventually went through Burra to reach a break of gauge station further north at Terowie.

Burra railway station is 1,555 feet (474 m) above sea level and 112 miles (180 km) from Adelaide.[58] 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.[59] After falling into disrepair, the station building has been renovated for use as a visitor centre and B&B.[60]

The townships of Copperhouse, Hampton and Nelson were not included in the 1940 proclamation forming the town of Burra, as they had become ghost towns. Other townships that either never succeeded or had been abandoned by 1940 were Princesstown, Lostwithiel, Westbury, Roachtown, Yarwood, Millertown, Warrapoota and Clonmel.[7]