KAPUNDA SOUTH AUSTRALIA
A town founded on Copper Mining

Significant Copper deposits were first discovered there in 1842 and the town was established around the mine. Initially there was surface mining but soon Cornish mineres arrived to begin tunnelling. Up to ten shafts were dug, including Wheal Bagot, Wheal Charlotte, Wheal Truscott, Wheal Lanyon, Wheal Harris, and Wheal Major (“Wheal” is derived from the Cornish word “huel” = a mine). The shafts have been obliterated by more recent open cut mine workings. By 1850 the mine had reached a depth of 24m and soon after a Cornish Beam Engine was installed which could be used for pumping water plus lifting and crushing ore. Production was high and also farming was developing in the area to support the growing population of miners and their families.

In 1860 the Kapunda Mining Company was formed in London.

The railway from Gawler to Kapunda was opened on 13th August 1860, making Kapunda the main town in the North of the colony. Kapunda became a hive of industry, with a flour mill, Hawke & Co foundry and engineering, large drapery and grocery shops opened, and Mellor and Cameron building agricultural implements. Bulluck trains were used to transport materials and food North to the Burra mine. Copper was discovered at Wallaroo-Moonta, with potential 4 times greater than that of Burra and up to 20 times greater than Kapunda. As production decreased at Kapunda less costly methods had to be used at the mines.

The mine produced copper until it closed 1877-1879. The Kapunda mine closed, because although there was more copper ore available, the quality of the ore dropped, and the price of copper dropped, so it became uneconomical. The machinery was sold to other mines. Kapunda still had a large population of several thousand, and activities turned to farming, manufacturing of farming machinery, the phosphate mine and transport. The railway head at Kapunda meant that all transport further North and East was by bullock teams, but the railway was then continued on to Morgan.

In 1880 The Hillside mine opened (50 acres adjacent to the Kapunda mine), and the main mine opened again, continuing to 1912 on a much smaller scale, but it still managed to produce another 12,800 tons of ore.

Some miners started farming, others went to Burra Burra (Now called Burra) Mine, others went to the Wallaroo or Moonta Mines. Kapunda produced mining equipment for mines all over Australia, including the famous Cornish boilers, and Kapunda supplied the northern mines with transport and miners. There were also quarries near the town which provided fine marble ranging from dark blue to white. Marble from the Kapunda quarries was used to face Parliament House in Adelaide.

Amoung the early Cornish miners were some Hooper families from St Cleer and Calstock in Cornwall. Firstly Robert in the 1850s and then his brothers. William arrived later with his whole family.

These are the Hooper Families from Calstock and St Cleer who went to Kapunda. Robert Hooper, who married Catherine Ley 1798 St Cleer, was born in Castock. Robert was the father of Richard Ley Hooper. See Calstock Hooper Families