Day 122: Whyalla to Burra

 We have another warm day with gusty winds. Once again they are coming from the North and gusting up to 25 knots, so the initial part of our drive to Port Augusta will be a thirsty one, after that, we will have a tailwind so overall we should be better off.

Our normal coffee stop didn't occur on the way to Burra as we couldn't find a cafe open on Sunday between Port Augusta and Burra. We did stop at Crystal Brook for a comfort stop. However, it is a very scenic drive through some great SA agricultural countryside.

Arrival in Burra was before noon and the wind was howling, making set up a bit more challenging. Once all done, we had lunch in a local cafe ( there are plenty of cafes here) and visited the Tourist Information Centre to help plan out our time here.

Burra isn't just any town, it was the site of one of the largest copper mines in the World in the mid to late 1800's. Much of that history has been preserved and the have a unique tourist offering called the Burra Heritage Passport. There is a  self guided tour brochure, a key to give you access to a number of historic sites (valid for 2 days), and a booklet on the history of the town. For $30 a head and a refundable deposit for the key, we snapped it up.

Because the history of Burra revolves around the copper mine, the site of the old mine was our first priority. The area circled is the old mine site.

Known as the Monster Mine, the copper deposit was discovered by a shepherd in 1845. Under regulations of the time, the mineral rights to a deposit could only be obtained by acquiring by purchase  from the Government, a special survey of 20,000 acres for the price of 20,000 Pounds. Two wealthy groups, were interested, known as the Nobs and the Snobs, they jointly agreed to buy the lease and divide it equally.

The Nobs ended up with the bad end of the deal, with poor deposits that were not economical. The Snobs, a group of Adelaide Shopkeepers and Merchants got the best part of the deposit and it became one of the great copper mines of the World, at its peak, supplying 5% of the World's copper supplies.

By 1850 it was the biggest metalliferous mine in Australia. Cornish miners were key to the development of this resource, bringing valuable technology to develop the mine. Much of the equipment needed was imported from Cornwall. Initially the ore was shipped to Wales for smelting, but soon after the Welsh built smelters in Burra to save transport costs. Underground mining ceased in 1867 at a depth of 183 metres, and changed to "revolutionary" open cut mining technique. It was reopened between 1971 and 1981 taking the open cut mine down to 100 metres.

The self guided tour is great. There is a lookout over the open cut mine.

There is great lookout at the mine site where you can see the town of Burra

There is also a lookout over the mine site processing infrastructure.. Many of the existing and restored buildings are accessible with the passports key we have.

Next we used our key to enter the mine site where the National Trust  preservation of buildings is outstanding.

A standout was the Morphett's Engine House, where the Cornish technology contribution to this mine is clearly explained.

We could go inside the engine house and climb up to the upper floors. Sadly the machinery was no longer there but there was enough information and models to demonstrate  how the Cornish engine worked. 

Looking down internally from the top level of the tower

A model of the engine tower with equipment installed

The final building available for inspection is the Powder Magazine where explosives form the mine were stored.

There is not a lot more to see here, so we head back to town and very close to our caravan park is the site of the Unicorn Brewery, another secret site you need a key to get into.

It is a classic brewery story. An entrepreneur saw an opportunity to build a brewery in a growing market. He had vision beyond the local area and introduced some new technology. Business was going well despite a decline in the population of Burra where it was based, as railways were moving west and new beer markets were opening up. The came Government regulation ( you needed to be licensed to sell beer, which basically killed off independent breweries and large brewers who could handle the bureaucracy bought out there annoying competitors. Sound familiar ?

The Unicorn Brewery is worth a visit, the wooden casks of beer were stored in underground cellars which extend underground up to 600 m. 

The popular beer was XXX Stout

The wind has finally died down and we go back to the caravan park. We still have a feed of Coffin Bay Oysters to shuck so that is my pre dinner duty. I only wish there was another supplier nearby where we could top up our supply. They were still as fresh as the day we bought them.