Historical Australian Towns: Moonta, SA: On The Copper Coast

Located 165 km (103 miles) north-northwest of the state capital of Adelaide, Moonta is a popular holiday spot, which developed from a mining centre when copper was found in the region in 1861.

Surrounded by white sandy beaches, Moonta is situated on the Yorke Peninsula. The nearby towns of Wallaroo, Kadina, and Moonta make up the Copper Triangle.

The Narungga People

Four Narungga (meaning "campsite" or Adjahdura meaning "my people") clans shared the Yorke Peninsula (Guuranda). An area once covered with dense scrub crossed with walking tracks, connecting hunting, fishing and ceremonial places.

Known as the Butterfish mob or saltwater people, Narungga, like other Aboriginal cultures, are oral, with no written language. Stories and dance, and ceremony were the way that knowledge was communicated and expressed.

The sea provided important food sources for the Narungga. Methods of obtaining seafood ranged from spearfishing, use of nets, and fish traps, made with large stones.

The Gayinbara (Butterfish Dusky Morwong) is a fish of great importance to Narungga people, not only as a food source but due to the belief that it possesses medicinal properties (in particular the fat of the Gayinbara).

Glimpses of Australia : Souvenir for the United States Navy, August-September, 1908. Sydney : Government Printer, 1908. Special Collections

South Australian Aboriginal people - very early 1900s, Aussie~mobs

Totem animals include the Wawi (Female Red Kangaroo), Garrdi (emu), Wildu (sea eagle) and Widhadha (shark).
The remains of campsites can be found around the coastal areas of the Yorke Peninsula, which were probably occupied during the warmer months. The Narungga most likely moved to other campsites inland, near lagoons and other water sources, for the colder months.

Australian Christian Commonwealth (SA : 1901 - 1940), Friday 29 March 1935

According to, The native tribes of South-East Australia, by William Howitt (1904)

"In the Narrang-ga tribe of Yorke Peninsula, the restrictions which affect marriage are neither class, totem, nor locality, but relationship. The class and totem names pass from father to child, the totems having, as in some other cases of male descent, become attached to localities instead of being scattered over the tribal country. In tabulating the marriages and descents in this tribe from the data given by the old men, I found that descent is in the male line, and that a man might marry a woman even of his own totem. As in all tribes, sister-marriage was strictly forbidden".

"According to the old men whose memories went back to the times before Yorke Peninsula was settled, there were then wars between them and the tribes outside their country. In them, men were allowed to keep women whom they captured, because there was no law which restricted a man to any particular class or totem."

The Narungga language is part of the Yura-Thura group and similar to the Kaurna and Nukunu languages.

An early European settler who lived on Moorowie Station, on the Southern Yorke Peninsula, saw many corroborees and wrote:

“…they were usually held at night. The men would dance around a fire and imitate kangaroo hunts, fishing exploits or fights with other tribes. They used to daub themselves with pipeclay and red ochre. The men would chant a kind of song and the women sat around in a circle with a possum rug in their laps rolled up to make a drum”.

Budera's Rock which is located on the coast, in Narungga Dreamtime stories, was created by a club thrown by a being called Bundera. The waves at Point Yorke were believed to be the evil spirit Wainjira breaking on the rocks. And the small mud huts of the “little people” (Illawari) of Aboriginal folklore were thought to exist at Marion Bay.

C. P. Mountford collected information from a Mrs Eggington, an Aboriginal woman from York Peninsula, she told "Stories of
giants who fought, and the places where their dead bodies,
now turned to stone, can be seen.
There was Nana, the giant of that
part, who one day discoverd a stranger
Buddra, equally large, roaming round
his domain. Buddra had evidently
lost his way while chasing a kangaroo
from Point Turton, and endeavored to
explain to Nana his predicament.
Nana, not being able to understand
Buddra's language, became particu-
larly enraged, and ordered him to leave,
which the visitor, being of a mule-
headed disposition, refused to do. A
fight ensued, in which Buddra was
killed. Nana disembowelled his enemy
—the grass no longer grows at this
spot— and disposed of the body by
dragging it into the middle of a salt
lake. The body is now turned to
stone."

1936 'MATTERS OF CURRENT INTEREST', Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954)

Europeans

Matthew Flinders charted the Yorke Peninsula in 1802. He anchored his ship off Corny Point but he did land, made cautious by the smoke of campfires and the barking of dogs.

Portrait of Captain Matthew Flinders, RN, 1774-1814

The French visited the Yorke Peninsula in April 1802. It was then that Captain Nicholas Baudin and Flinders met at Encounter Bay on 8 April 1802.

News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 3 April 1952

Lieutenant Louis Freycinet sailed in the area in January 1803 on his second voyage into South Australian waters.

From 1802 sealers and whalers operated in the region of Spencer Gulf and Yorke Peninsula. These men, often called Straitsmen, came from a wide range of national and ethnic backgrounds, had initially come from whaling and sealing boats owned by American, British and French companies.

According to research:

"The men that journeyed to the Australian and Pacific whaling and sealing industries came from various localities. There were African Americans, Tahitians, English, French, and Anglo‑Americans, as well as many labeled Lascars or Bengali. The women who worked the sealing industry were mostly Aboriginal from various tribes or clans. There is evidence that in Bass Strait there was at least one newcomer woman from India, a Hindu who lived with her European sealer “husband”. (1.)

Many of these men were hard and brutal, and ruthlessly kidnapped Aboriginal women.

A number of land surveyors were in the region between 1836 and 1846. One report stated: "The soil is not of a very fertile description but so far from being a barren and sandy waste, if we could have found a fresh water river we would have pronounced it good country for the maintenance of flocks and herds".

J B Hack and John Russell took up land in May 1839 near Point Pearce but they were not successful.

Finding Copper

Walter Hughes, who was born in Scotland and emigrated to South Australia in 1840, took up a pastoral lease near Moonta and called this station Walla-Waroo which is Aboriginal for wallaby urine.

Hughes thought that his sheep property must contain mineral deposits, so he told his shepherds to look for signs of minerals. James Boor, a shepherd, discovered copper at Wallaroo on 17 December 1859, and in 1861, another shepherd, Patrick Ryan, found copper in a wombat hole near Moonta.

Engine house and "Wombat" shaft, Moonta Mines., SA Approximately 1860 SLSA

Patrick Ryan reported his copper find to a publican at Port Wakefield, named Joseph Johnson, who immediately applied for a mining lease. Hughes also applied for a lease, which resulted in a legal battle. This battle was eventually ruled in Hughes' favour.

Wheal Hughes operated as an underground mine until 1868.

Hughes' Pump House, Moonta Mines - Ore Dressing. The function of the pump house was to dewater the underground workings on the mine's largest orebodies. These orebodies were worked over a length of 1000 metres and to depths of more than 700 metres. The pump house worked continuously for over 58 years. The horse whim can be seen in the background. This device is similar to a capstan, a rope is wound around the drum with both ends transversing several pulleys hanging down the mine shaft. As the capstan is turned one end is lowered, carrying an empty bucket while the other one is raised carrying a full load, Approximately 1864, SLSA

Miners Arrive

Hopeful diggers began to arrive in the region. Hardworking and knowledgeable Cornish miners were also recruited from other mining centres and abroad.

In a period of nine years, the population of Moonta Mines increased from four men, to a population of more than 10,000.

The Cornish left their homes in great numbers due to unemployment and other factors like the potato blight. The term, "Cousin Jacks and Jennys", to informally describe Cornish men and women was in use at the time.

These Cornish settlers had a great influence on the development of the Yorke peninsula. By importing the Cornish beam engine, they enabled mining of metals at previously unreachable depths. Cornish influence is also evident in the area's architecture.

George Street in Moonta. Two storied centre building is a branch of the National Bank, erected in 1866. (Note by Mr O Pryor) Another two storey building is along side the Bank and a single storey Chemist, Druggist and Bookseller is on the other side. Both of these smaller buildings have wide verandahs overhanging the footpath. Approximately 1860, SLSA

Other structures at Moonta are the Elders winding engine, mechanical workshops, stables and stockyard and the engine pool.

Moonta was surveyed, and town sites were sold in April 1863. However, many miners lived in cottages and huts on the "occupation leases" in settlements such as Hamley Flat, Moonta Mines, Yelta and Cross Roads.

From Tents to Limestone Villas

The Cornish built their houses from locally made mud bricks, clay and limestone.

Moonta was officially gazetted as a township in 1863.

By 1865, Cornish settlers may have constituted more than 42% of South Australia's immigrant population.

Methodism became the institutional foundation of Moonta’s identity. By 1875, there were 14 Methodist churches at Moonta, including Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and Bible Christian.

Horse Railway

Captain Hancock was the mine superintendent at Moonta and Wallaroo from 1864 until his retirement in 1898.

The "Register", Saturday 28 July 1866, reported the opening of the Wallaroo to Moonta horse railway.

By January 1868, the construction of the horse railway from Moonta Mines to Moonta was almost complete.

Mine shafts, which until the 1890s were dug using hand tools or blasted using explosives, were often 750 metres (2,460 ft), with ore hauled to the surface using horse whims, a machine worked by a horse. The harnessed horse pulled up buckets of ore from the shaft, using a system of pulleys and cables.

Coal shipped from Newcastle provided energy to operate boiler houses and water pumps for the mines.

Five rich ore lodes were discovered in the Moonta Mines Area.

The remains of Moonta Mines explosives magazine can be found near the former state Moonta Mines School.

Taylor's Shaft in Elder's Main Lode, which was over 2,520 feet deep, was worked continuously from 1862-1923.

The Moonta Mines boosted South Australia's economy during a period of poor agricultural yields.

Mining and settlement severely disrupted traditional Aboriginal ways of life, land use and food sources. Traditional Aboriginal beliefs, practices and customary laws were markedly affected.

In 1868, the Point Pearce Aboriginal Mission was established by the Moravian missionary Julius Kühn.

The Moonta Mine was extremely successful and became the first mine in Australia to pay dividends aggregating one million pounds.

Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal (Port Wallaroo, SA : 1865 - 1881), Saturday 27 February 1869

1870s

By 1870 Moonta's population reached 10,000 people, with 6,000 living on the mining leases.

The Hancock jig, which separated grains of metallic copper from waste material, was patented in 1870 by Captain Richard Hancock.

The horse railway was extended in 1870. westwards to a headland in Moonta Bay, known as the "Old Landing Place".

The government town of Moonta incorporated as the Corporate Town of Moonta in 1872.

Blanche Terrace, Moonta, 1870s, looking towards the cemetery and railway, with the St Francis of Assisi church in the distance and the Royal Hotel on the right

By 1873 Moonta had 80 businesses, five hotels, many churches, a newspaper, four banks and an Institute.

George Street at Moonta showing gas lighting, approximately 1873 SLSA.

In 1874 there was a downturn in world copper prices, and Moonta Mines announced that there would be a reduction in wages. This resulted in the Great Strike of 1874.

This strike led to the formation of the United Tradesmen's Society, which later became the Labor League of South Australia.

John Verran, who was born in Cornwall but came to Australia at the age of 3 months, began working at the Moonta Mines before the age of 10. Verran became a trade unionist, who served as premier of South Australia from 1910 to 1912, the second member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to hold the position.

Measles in the Moonta district was first reported by the Northern Argus on 20 October 1874. By that December, an estimated 2,400 cases of measles had been reported with an average of five to six daily deaths, the majority of the victims being infants and children. Deaths were also due to typhoid, cholera dysentery and diarrhoea from the unsanitary conditions.

Sewage systems were poorly planned or non-existent, and severe water shortages often occurred. Miners often bought water or consumed polluted water sources. They built underground tanks and collected surface water during rainfall. Water quality improved greatly after 1890 when a pipeline for freshwater was commissioned from the Beetaloo Reservoir in the lower Flinders Ranges.

In 1875, Moonta had a population of 12,000, the largest town outside of Adelaide.

The streets of the town were first illuminated with gas on 24th of May 1875.

By 1879 Moonta was producing about 20-30% of the copper ore in Australia.

1880s

The former Moonta Mines Model School, Moonta, SA, early 1880s, Aussie~mobs

Hughes Pump house, Moonta Copper Mine, SA, 1880s, Aussie~mobs

Shops at Moonta, SA : premises of Marshal & Herbert, butchers, and W. Chappell, bootmaker. Approximately 1880

Cottage owned by John Mill Rowe at East Moonta built with a paling roof and no gutters c1883 SLSA

John W. Rowes' drapery shop, in Ellen Street, Moonta. Approximately 1883 SLSA

Low copper prices caused the Moonta and Wallaroo mining companies to amalgamate in 1889.

1890s

Staff outside the Moonta Mines Workshop, aprox. 1890, SLSA

The School of Mines at Moonta opened in 1891 for practical training in mining.

The 1891 census revealed that 80% of the residents of the Moonta district were Methodists.

Messrs. Donaldson, Andrews & Co., Retail, Moonta, SA, Soft Goods Merchants Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 2 September 1899

1900s

By the turn of the twentieth century, Narungga people were participating in various agricultural industries throughout the entire peninsula.

George Street and Town Hall, Moonta, S.A. - very early 1900s, Aussie~mobs

Taylor's new plant at Moonta Mines in South Australia - very early 1900s, Aussie~mobs

Miners of the Wild Dog Mine at Moonta, SA, c1900 SLSA

In 1904 the large Taylor Shaft and poppet was destroyed by fire.

School of Mines, Moonta, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 26 November 1904

Moonta Mines, SA, Richman's crushing and concentrating plant, 1905, State Records of SA

The peak year for employment at Wallaroo and Moonta Mines was 1906 when the company employed 2,700 men.

The Moonta picture show was to open in the Institute Hall on 29 October 1909, but as the electric plant did not arrive from Sydney in time, the picture show opened the following week.

Moonta Mines Turks Football Team 1906, originally called the Moonta Mines Young Turks but changed to Moonta Turks between 1889-1924. Turks meaning is someone who is very brave

R.Learmond's Grocer's cart at Moonta, SA, P.D. Learmond stands by the horse. 1906, SLSA

1. Eight Hour Day procession, 2. Moonta Mines Model Band, 3. The Amalgamated Miners Association, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 14 September 1907

The Moonta Lacrosse Team, Premiers for 1908. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 28 November 1908

Moonta Ladies' Committee, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 9 October 1909

Greengrocer's boy standing with a heavily laden fruit and vegetable cart which belonged to Mr Richard Rowe of Moonta, SA. SLSA

George Street, from the Clock Tower of the Town Hall, the Mines in background, Moonta, SA, 1910, SLSA

Aboriginal choir visiting Moonta grouped around their portable harmonium c1910 SLSA

Wilfley tables at Moonta Mines. Approximately 1910. The Wilfley Shaking Table was developed in the 1890s to separate heavy mineral particles from lighter gangue

Procession of horses and carriages down the street, Moonta. SA. 1910, SLSA

Locomotive at the mines at Moonta, SA, Approximately 1910, SLSA

East Moonta Tram, SA. Approximately 1911, SLSA

Horsewoman riding side-saddle on her grey horse jumping a fence during a competition at an agricultural show held at Moonta, South Australia, circa 1912. State Library of South Australia

Moonta Mines Sunday School, Moonta, SA, 1914, State Library of South Australia

WWI

After the First World War, mining at Moonta reduced considerably due to a drop in copper prices, and diminishing ore reserves.

Lieutenant and Private in family photo, Moonta in South Australia - WW1, (found on ebay), Aussie~mobs

George Henry Potter, Date of Birth: 8.2.1897, Date of Enlistment: 23.7.1918, Trade or Calling: Tinsmith, Born in or near what Town: Moonta, Address prior to Enlistment: North Moonta SA, Rank, Number, Battalion, Distinctions: Casualties and where: Name & Address of Next of Kin: Mrs L. Potter North Moonta SA (Mother) State Library of New South Wales

An electric light system began operation in 1917.

1920s

Moonta horse tram, Moonta, SA 1920. SLSA

The mines ceased operation in 1923 and many miners turned to farming, using superphosphate provided by the Wallaroo Phosphate Company, to enrich the poor soil.

Opening of bowling green at Moonta, S.A. - 1923, The WW1 memorial statue can be seen in the centre of this photo. Aussie~mobs

Moonta Mining and Smelting Co. liquidated in 1925.

Men Loading Wheat Sacks Onto a Wagon at Moonta Wheat Stores, Moonta, SA, (GN08025), 1925, The History Trust of South Australian

Bus on George Street at Moonta, SA. 1927, SLSA

Arrival of special train for Back to Moonta celebration, SA. 1927, SLSA

Moonta School Fete, SA, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 24 September 1927

"Princess Amelia Walker," nee Everely, still living at North Moonta. Princess Amelia Walker, who is said to be the last survivor of the Adelaide tribe, is an intelligent woman, and, although well advanced in years, is possessed of all her faculties, and is exceptionally active for her age. She resides at North Moonta about a mile and a half from the town, with her husband, Mr. Charles John Savage, and walks to the town several times a week, in addition to working in her home. Her husband, whose father came from Boston, U.S.A., is of negro descent, and is a very intelligent man. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 17 December 1927

1930s

View of George Street at Moonta, SA. Approximately 1930, SLSA

Various shops and buildings along Moonta's main street c1932: To be seen are the premises for the Moonta District Co-Operative, (dealers for International, Deering and McCormack harvesters), C.W. Williams' agency for C.A.V. batteries and Farmers Union to name a few. The Town Hall clock tower can be seen in the middle of the view, SLSA

George Street at Moonta, SA, 25 February 1933, The History Trust of South Australian

Kadina and Wallaroo Times (SA : 1888 - 1954), Saturday 11 March 1939

1940s and WWII

Sister Annie Merle (Merle) Trenery, 2/13th Australian General Hospital, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). She was one of sixty five Australian nurses and over 250 civilian men, women and children evacuated on the Vyner Brooke from Singapore three days before the fall of Malaya. The Vyner Brooke was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sunk in Banka Strait on 14 February 1942. Of the sixty five nurses, thirty two survived the sinking and were taken Prisoner of War (POW) of which eight later died in captivity, another twenty two also survived the sinking and were washed ashore on Radji Beach, Banka Island, where they surrendered to the Japanese along with twenty five British soldiers. On 16 February 1942 the group was massacred, the soldiers were bayoneted and the nurses were ordered to march into the sea where they were shot. Only Sister Vivian Bullwinkel and a British soldier survived the massacre. Both were taken POW, but only Sister Bullwinkel survived the war. Sister Trenery, aged 32, was one of twelve nurses who were lost at sea. She was washed out to sea on a raft along with Matron Paschke and Sister's Clarke, McDonald, Dorsch and Ennis. They were never seen again. She was the daughter of Mrs E. J. Trenery of Moonta Mines, SA. (Photograph copied from original photograph attached to attestation form, lent by Central Army Records Office.)

Timothy Hughes of Narungga descent was born in 1919 at Point Pearce Mission. He served from 1939 to 1945 with the 2nd 10th Battalion, and was a "Rat of Tobruk" and also saw service in Libya, New Guinea and Borneo. He was awarded the Military Medal for his act of conspicuous gallantry and bravery at the Buna Aerodrome during the Battle of Milne Bay in New Guinea in September 1942. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Tuesday 28 September 1943

Regarded as the father of the Royal Australian Air Force, Richard Williams was born on 3 August 1890 at Moonta Mines, South Australia, into a working-class family. He enlisted in the South Australian Infantry Regiment at the age of 19 and gained a commission in 1911. When war broke out in September 1939, Williams was Air Officer in charge of Administration at RAF Coastal Command. Later he took up the position of Director-General of Civil Aviation in Australia, and was knighted the year before his retirement in 1955.

1950s

Don Watson 19-year-old Aboriginal from Moonta, SA, who has been employed as a drover on a cattle station, taking an education test at Keswick today before he went before the interviewing board for enlistment in the Australian Regular Army.News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 27 July 1950

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 10 August 1950

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 3 August 1950

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 15 May 1952

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 1 October 1953,

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 23 April 1953

1990s

Wheal Hughes reopened in 1998 as tourist attraction.

Around Moonta

The Railway Station at Moonta, SA, built and opened in 1909, replaced original station built in 1878

The Moonta Area School, on Blanche Terrace, Moonta, SA. In 1865, Selina Hancock started a licensed school on this site, with 41 children. After the passing of the compulsory school act of 1875, a school building was erected by the Colonial Architect in 1877, at a cost of £6,400– a large sum for those days.

The old Methodist Church at Moonta Mines, SA, was built in 1865

Miners Cottage, Moonta, SA

The Moonta Town Hall, SA, was erected in 1885 by Pollard and Cowling of Moonta to the design of Thomas Smeaton of Adelaide. The clock tower and clock was added in 1907

Remains of Hughes Engine House, Moonta, SA

Remains of Richmond's Engine House, Moonta, SA

The foundation stone of this Wesleyan Methodist Church, Moonta, SA, was laid in 1873

The Masonic Temple, Blanche Terrace, Moonta, SA, was completed in 1875

Moonta, SA

Ryan's shaft where copper was first discovered in 1861, Moonta. SA

House at Moonta, SA

The former Moonta Mines Post Office, SA, was built in 1946 and operated until it closed in the mid 1970s

Classical style bank was built in 1865 for the Bank of SA, Moonta, SA. Became the Union Bank as shown on parapet in 1892. Closed as a bank in 1943. Old 19th century chemist shop next door