Callington on the Bremer River. A very rusty old model T Ford in a yard. : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Callington on the Bremer River. A very rusty old model T Ford in a yard. / denisbin
ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示-改変禁止 2.1 |
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説明 | The Callington Copper mine.Settlement spread across the well-watered Adelaide Hills following a number of Special Surveys in 1839. The financial situation of the state was saved by the discovery of a significant copper mine at Kapunda in 1842, followed by the great mine at Burra in 1845, and then the Callington mine in 1849. The last big copper mine in the 19th century was at Moonta/Kadina in 1869. Callington was laid out as a township in 1849 by local landowners. At about the same time the government announced a survey to build a new road to Wellington on the River Murray and that it would cross the Bremer River where Callington now stands. The Bremer was named after Sir James Bremer founder of the Port Essington settlement in the Northern Territory. Around the time when the first Callington land was offered for sale John Kiernan, whilst driving a dray over a rocky outcrop near the proposed town, noticed copper ore where the wheel of the dray crushed the stone. Copper mining began shortly after that discovery! A smelter was established here and the town began.Soon there were five mining companies apart from the Bremer Mining Company operating here. Shafts were sunk up to 190 metres (620feet) deep chasing the lodes of copper. Cornish miners settled in the town which officially began in 1850. Before then the area was simply known as Bremer. The original Bremer lode was easy to mine and profitable as the ore was near the surface. The deep shafts ran into water problems. This prompted the Bremer Mining Company to sell out to the Worthing Mining Company in 1857. They installed a large steam pump house to remove water from the shafts. It arrived in 1859 from its former mine site at Hallett Cove. The engine took two years to be fully installed and it then pumped 500,000 gallons of water a day from the mine. Alfred Hallett carefully managed the mine. He was well respected and under his control the mine at Callington had a reputation for having the lowest costs of production of any mine in SA. Yet the Worthing Mining Company never paid any dividends to its shareholders despite 15 years of continuous operations. In 1870 the company went into liquidation. Before this time around 150 men and boys were employed in the mine and up to 300 tons of copper ore per month was extracted, smelted and then transported to Port Adelaide. The slump in world copper prices in 1870 finished off the mine (and at that same time the great Burra mine closed too.) For 16 months there was no activity in Callington until the Bremer Mining Company took over again in 1872. In the meantime the shafts had filled with water. It took seven months of continuous pumping to clear the shafts! The mine operated for just two years and closed for ever in 1875. Callington at that time had a population of 235. By 1881 this had dropped to just 148. Many of the buildings of the 1850s and 1860s still remain. Look for: 1. The Flour Mill on the river. Opened in 1858 and made of limestone with brick quoins and timber window frames and casement windows. The Thomas brothers operated the mill for just a few months. It has been a residence off and on since 1859. It was extensively updated and restored in 1975. 2. Erskine Bridge. This government bridge opened in 1890 with elegant sandstone piers, steel trusses and a concrete deck. Mr Erskine was the local MP at that time. It was re-decked by the Highways department in 1970 and had major repairs done in 1979. The first bridge on this site opened in 1874.The last major flood down the Bremer River was in 1992. The Bremer River rises near Mt Torrens and flows down from Callington to Langhorne Creek and Lake Alexandrina. The Erskine Bridge is on the register of the National Estate. 3. Former Methodist Church. The former Methodist Church was built in 1862 for the Cornish miners in a commanding position overlooking the river. It has been a private residence for many years.4. Police Station. At the far end of the town is the police station and lockup. It was built in 1867 of a standard SA design for that era. It has sandstone windowsills and door surrounds. It was built in the classical style with good symmetry, a double front door entrance and a nice fanlight above the doors with VR for Victoria Regina plastered into the walls. The paired timber bracket supports for the roof indicate that the original roof was slate and heavy. In the rear yard are the cells, stables and a toilet with a semicircular headed entrance. 5. St Peter’s Lutheran Church. Callington always provided services for the local Lutheran German farmers. This Lutheran Church opened in 1864 as a fine blue stone and mortar church in the Gothic style with a cross shape. The central roof bell tower was added later. The interior has a gambrel roof in wood. Note the blind window above the porch entrance. In recent years the whole church has been cement rendered spoiling the appearance.6. Callington Hotel. The first licensed hotel opened in 1851. This current building probably dates from the 1870s. The publican used to maintain a good historic photograph collection on the bar walls but the hotel is now closed. 7. Primary School. Like most SA schools it dates from just after the passing of the 1875 Free, Compulsory and Secular Education Act. The building was erected in 1886 but the first town school operated from 1858. The government took over that school in 1873. The building is unusual in that a porch was attached to the schoolroom under a veranda roof. The school faced closure in the 1980s but now has a growing enrolment and new classrooms because of Kanmantoo mine. 8. Explosives Hut. This amazing small round building was erected in the 1850s, probably by Worthing Mining Company. Its walls are of limestone and lime mortar with a roof that tapers to the apex with two different rates of slope. The internal supports for the dome roof are all wooden but the main thrust of the weight of the roof is on the external walls. It is on the register of the National Estate. It is likely the rounded shape was meant to implode if there was a small explosion.9. Pump House or Engine room and chimney. This was built during the last phase of mining from 1872 to 1875. An earlier Cornish chimney and engine house was built in 1858 -1859 closer to the Explosives Hut. 10. Chimney Stack. This was erected in 1874 in the round Cornish style of mine chimney stacks. It was built for the boiler which provided steam to the pump house. It can be seen beyond the Explosives Hut. Another chimney stack was built in 1859 -60.11. Quadrant Engine Pool Settling Tanks. These were built in late 1863. The circular tanks were divided into four areas or quadrants but little remains now. 12. Cottages in Montefiore Street. Some fine 1850s cottages still remain. Notice the decorative cut outs on the veranda ends of the cottages near the turn off to the Methodist Church. The cottages are in Montefiore Street but who was he? We all know Montefiore Hill with Light’s Vision in North Adelaide. Jacob Montefiore was one of the original SA Company Commissioners in London. He was an English Jew born in Jamaica of Italian ancestry! He was a friend of Colonel William Light and helped him prepare the Rapid and the Cygnet for their voyages to SA in 1836. Montefiore visited Adelaide twice in 1843 and 1854 whilst on his way to visit his brother, a wealthy banker in Sydney. Callington cemetery is on the eastern outskirts of the town and has some fine old headstones written in German. It is run by the City of Murray Bridge. Several headstones and graves date from 1864. The railway from Adelaide reached Callington in 1886. It was pushed through South Australia quickly after this to reach Victoria and provide the first intercolonial railway between capital cities. The first Intercolonial Express train passed through Callington railway station in January 1887. It will probably do this for the last time at the end of 2019 when state government support for Southern Rail’s Overland service is terminated. The once busy railway station is now demolished but the station master’s house on the north side of the railway lines and the stone workers cottages still remain. Both are private residences. The original railway booking office is now in the National Railway Museum at Port Adelaide. |
撮影日 | 2019-09-08 16:36:59 |
撮影者 | denisbin |
タグ | |
撮影地 | |
カメラ | DSC-HX90V , SONY |
露出 | 0.013 sec (1/80) |
開放F値 | f/4.0 |