Burra. Copper miners dug rooms into the bank of Burra Creek in the late 1840s and early 1850s as homes for their families. Some still remain. : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Burra. Copper miners dug rooms into the bank of Burra Creek in the late 1840s and early 1850s as homes for their families. Some still remain. / 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 |
|---|---|
| 説明 | Burra Burra Township.Burra is possibly not an Aboriginal word as some might surmise. It was not uncommon for shepherds to have Indian assistants with them whilst tending the large flocks of sheep in this district. William Streair, who discovered copper at Burra was accompanied by an Indian shepherd and it was he who provided the Hindustani word for “big big” which is “burra burra” for the name of the town. This word was so appropriate as Burra was to become the biggest copper mine in the world in its day. By 1849 Burra could boast of a smelter of its own and a large mining workforce, from both Cornwall and Wales. At the beginning Burra was very much a company town with the company providing houses for the miners, and a doctor service too - but at a cost to the miners. Money was deducted from everyone’s wages to cover housing and medical services. When wages were reduced by Henry Ayers in 1848 South Australia had its first labour strike. The company directors used assistance from the police to break the strike and they even banned the sale of the Adelaide newspaper in Burra when it published an editorial critical of management’s treatment of its miners! Miners could never buy a house, only rent it, and they were forced to use the medical services of the company doctor. Yet despite this style of management Henry Ayers became premier of SA seven times, including 1867-68. Kooringa, the central part of the present Burra, became the first company town in Australia in 1845. In 1848 the government surveyed a town called Redruth which provided a police station and gaol for the settlements. Later in 1857 another private township was surveyed called Hampton (an English settlement). This township had 22 dwellings by 1872, a Wesleyan chapel and more. The stone ruins of this deserted township are still visible on the hills above Redruth Gaol. Other private towns surveyed in the area were Aberdeen and New Aberdeen (Scottish settlements), associated with the Bon Accord mine, and Llwchwr, a Welsh settlement. These private towns and the government town were separated from Kooringa by the Monster Mine and the smelting works.Despite the provision of the township by the company there were still about 1,500 people living in 600 dugouts on the banks of Burra Creek even in 1850. Although the dugouts were whitewashed inside, ventilation was poor, they were subject to flooding, and disease was common as all rubbish was dumped outside in the creek. Outbreaks of typhus and typhoid fever were common. To avoid these problems the company announced in 1851 that it would no longer employ any miners who lived in the dugouts. By the beginning of 1851 Burra was the largest inland town in Australia with a population of around 5,000. Brisbane, for example only had 2,500 people then and Adelaide had a mere 18,000. It has been estimated that about 1,000 of the town’s population were directly involved in working for the mines. Other people lived in the townships- blacksmiths, wheelwrights, saddlers, chaff merchants and the like. Wood carters were also employed to bring wood to the town from the Murray Mallee east of the Burra Hills for use in the smelters. Much of what you will see in Burra today was built in the 1850s and 1860s before the mine closed in 1877. There are over 100 listed heritage buildings in Burra. The structures were built of local stone and they display great craftsmanship and architectural merit. In particular the mine stacks and buildings, Redruth Gaol (1856), Paxton Square cottages (1849-52), the churches - Roman Catholic (1873-74) and Anglican (1879), the Court House and Police Station (1857), the School (1876), the Post Office (1860) and some others all enhance the historical charm of Burra. |
| 撮影日 | 2021-09-23 11:20:40 |
| 撮影者 | denisbin |
| タグ | |
| 撮影地 | |
| カメラ | DSC-HX90V , SONY |
| 露出 | 0.002 sec (1/500) |
| 開放F値 | f/3.5 |