Burra, South Australia

5/12/2018

Around Town

The Burra Burra Mine was located close to the lease boundary and subsequently many townships proceeded to spring-up as the area's population swelled to 5.000. During the life of the Mine, the townships of Kooringa, Redruth, Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, Llwchwr and Hampton flanked the special survey boundary. Today these townships are collectively known as Burra with an approximate population of 1,000. Burra Burra is Hindustani for Great Great and history states Afghan cameleers named the creek, Burra Burra Creek during previous visits to the region.

Sunswift Solar Car travelling from Perth to Sydney for UNSW

Bon Accord Museum & Mine - 1859

Situation on land purchased by a group of Scots in 1846, the Bon Accord mine is located in the township of Aberdeen outside of the special survey boundary. The mine wasn't economically viable, but the shaft can still be viewed in the museum and continued to be of service to the people of Burra up until 1966 as a pumping shaft for the town's water supply.

Burra Burra Mine Site - 1845

In 1845 two copper deposits were discovered near Burra Burra Creek. To acquire the land and the rights to a mineral deposit a special survey of 20,000 acres needed to be purchased at a cost of £20,000. This was an expensive undertaking therefore two groups nicknamed the Nobs and Snobs decided to go halves, splitting the special survey in half, each with it's own deposit. The Nobs, a group of pastoralists took the Southern end of the survey naming their mine the Princess Royal Mining Company (PRMC) or Princess Royal Mine, and the Snobs, Adelaide merchants and shopkeepers took on the Northern end, calling their mine the South Australian Mining Association (SAMA) or Burra Burra Mine.
The Princess Royal Mine in the south, owned by the Nobs closed soon after in 1851. However the Burra Burra Mine owned by the Snobs prospered, becoming the largest metalliferous mine in Australia, producing by the 1860's about 5% of the world's copper. The mine later using the revolutionary open-cut method, before closing in 1877. The Burra Burra mine was again reworked from 1971 to 1981, but is now an important tourist attraction in Australia's mining heritage. This is due to being the first metalliferous mine in Australia, and for playing a major role in the economic development and viability of South Australia. At the time, when the mine was first developed, no one in Australia had the skills or knowledge to undertake such a project, therefore Cornish and Wales miners descended on the area to provide the much needed support. The ore was transported by bullock wagon to Port Adelaide an approximate journey of about 150 kilometres, taking almost two weeks to complete, before being loaded and shipped to Wales for smelting and refining. Smelters were built four years later to save on the cost of transportation.