Kapunda (Australia)
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Kapunda is an Australian city of about 2,600 people, 79 kilometers from Adelaide in South Australia on the Light River . The city name is based on the local Aborigines who named a spring in the urban area cappie oonda . The city was founded in 1842 after the discovery of a rich copper deposit . Kapunda is also known as the oldest mining town in Australia.
history
Copper ore was mined in Kapunda from 1842 to 1878. The ore-bearing vein with a copper content of 22.5 percent was one of the richest occurrences ever found on earth. Originally the ore was mined with a shovel and pickaxe and transported by ox and cart to Port Adelaide , where it was shipped to Swansea in Wales and smelted there. The oxen transport of two tons of ore to the ships took about six days. In 1850 100 tons of ore were mined per month. The city developed through copper mining and around 1851 lived around 2000 people there. During this time, the ore was no longer shipped, but copper was produced on site in smelters that were manufactured in Germany. Gold was found in Victoria near Bendigo and Ballarat in 1852 . This resulted in many workers moving on and the mine orphaned. Only after three years did the miners return, and from 1857 onwards the mining operations normalized.
Copper mining ended in 1878 and the mining equipment was sold the following year. The rich copper vein was exhausted, and a copper deposit was discovered at Burra with a four times larger deposit. Mining in Kapunda continued until 1912, albeit with small amounts. A total of 12,800 tons of copper were extracted in the mine.
Copper mining attracted people from Wales, Ireland and Germany. The miners and the smelting workers came from England . The German immigrants cut the wood to fire the smelter and their wives made agricultural products and brought them to market. Today an eight-meter-high statue called Map Kernow commemorates the miners . The name means Son of Cornwall in the Cornish dialect . The statue was unveiled on June 5, 1988.
Close to the city there is a deposit of marble , the Kapunda Marble , with a dark blue to white texture . The Parliament House in Adelaide was built from this marble .
Kapunda is known for its horse breeding, which the so-called Cattle King Sir Sidney Kidman founded. A world-famous horse sales week takes place in the village every year. In the meantime, mainly grain is grown around Kapunda. The place is also a center of the wine trade of the nearby viticulture in the Barossa Valley .
tourism
In addition to numerous historical buildings, there is also the Kapunda Museum in the village . The present museum building had been a Baptist church since 1866 , built with financial help from George Fife Angas and used until 1948. A technical school was located in the building until 1960. The Kapunda Museum later moved into the building where Kapunda's history is presented. It also contains a collection of historical record players and motorcycles.
The mining history of the place can be seen by visiting the Lookout mine and the copper smelter with chimney at the abandoned copper ore open-cast mine. The cottages in which the miners lived with their families are still there.
The Kapunda Celtic Music Festival has been held annually since 1976 .
There are hotels, motels, guest houses, bed & breakfasts , caravan parks , holiday homes and restaurants in the village .
photos
View of the Anglican and Catholic Churches from the Gundry Hill Lookout
Kapunda Institute and Soldiers Hall of Honor
The abandoned open pit, which part of Kapunda museum is
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Individual evidence
- ↑ Climate statistics for Australian locations (KAPUNDA). Australian Government - Bureau of Meteorology , accessed November 27, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics : Kapunda ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
- ↑ collectionsaustralia.net ( Memento of the original from February 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Kapunda Museum , in English, accessed June 24, 2013
- ↑ smh.com.au : Kapunda , February 2, 2004, accessed June 23, 2013
- ↑ trove.nla.gov.au : Kapunda Marble Quarry , June 6, 1882, in English, accessed June 24, 2013
- ^ Community.history.sa.gov.au : Kapunda Museum , in English, accessed June 24, 2013
- ↑ kapundaceltic.org : Kapunda Celtic Music Festival , in English, accessed on June 23, 2013
