Kapunda - The Copper Museum

Just over an hours drive north east of Adelaide and you reach Kapunda, a town steeped in history. It moves at an easier pace now, but as you scan the town's skyline with it's array of fine buildings you realise the wealth that once flowed down it's streets. Back in 1842, two squatters, Francis Dutton the man who built historic Anlaby Station and his neighbour Captain Charles Bagot came across copper outcrops while searching for stray sheep. They decided to keep their find a secret until they could have it properly analysed overseas. It soon became apparent they were sitting on a copper lode of staggering potential. "It was a pact which would ultimately make both men fabulously wealthy. And over time some of that wealth would trickle down to others and is now reflected in Kapunda's amazing architectural heritage." Like this Romanesque building, the old Baptist Church built in 1866. It now houses the Kapunda Museum which tells the story of the town which grew from that initial find. "It was the highest grade of copper ever found in the world and I believe to this day. The Cornish miners flooded in and then the Welsh smelters and then the Irish Labourers and the German farmers about the same time." And all of this happened at a time when the young colony of South Australia was at a point of economic collapse. "Three years afterwards of course, Burra started and together they saved the State from bankruptcy." The early Cornish miners initially banded together in groups and would tender for an area of exposed ore body and were paid according to the value of ore extracted. There was little supervision and over time a series of haphazard borrows developed. Later this underground mining gave way to open cut but by 1879 the mine was closed.

Periodic mining for small parcels of ore continued until 1912. Today you can still make sense of the maze of shafts and mine workings via an interpretative trail and the Kapunda Museum highlights how life changed with the influx of mineral wealth. Here you can travel back in time to the days of the old Farmer's Co-operative store. "This gadget is a flying fox that sent the money from the counter down to the cashier in the middle of the shop." "So this was part of the Eudunda Farmer's Co-operative system?" "Yes, here in Kapunda. So the money was put in here and the docket fitted in underneath." It's considered one of the best Folk Museum's in the State, reflecting how the agricultural boom also transformed rural life. "The Mellor stripper is indicative of another industry and they were a foundry as well. They started here in Kapunda and set up branches elsewhere including Adelaide." News of the region's achievements spread via this printing press and the Kapunda Herald Star and Northern Intelligencer, the first country paper in South Australia. It and a host of other highlights of Kapunda's history are on display at the Town's museum in Hill Street. It's open from 1pm until 4pm or by appointment. You can contact (08)8566 2286 or for more information you can email info@postcards.sa.com.au for any further enquiries.