A Burra Copper Trail Day
Mines, dugouts, a gaol and a Cornish town that once helped save a colony.
Burra was once one of Australia's most important copper towns, and its preserved mining landscape is among the finest anywhere. Armed with the Heritage Passport key, this day unlocks the lot.
The plan
Collect the Burra Heritage Passport, then start at the Monster Mine and the Enterprise Mine chimney to grasp the scale of the copper boom. Walk the riverbank to the miners' dugouts, where families once lived in burrows cut into the clay. Take in Redruth Gaol, a stark relic later used as a film location, before exploring the town's remarkably intact heritage streetscape. The Market Square Museum and old railway station round out the story of how this Cornish-flavoured town helped underwrite colonial South Australia.
Day 1
6 stops-
1
Burra Heritage Passport
BurraCollect the Passport key that unlocks Burra’s locked heritage sites.
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2
Enterprise Mine Chimney
BurraSee the Enterprise chimney and the scale of the Monster Mine.
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3
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4
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5
Burra Heritage Streetscape
BurraWander Burra’s wonderfully intact heritage streetscape.
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6
Market Square Museum
BurraFinish at the museum recreating a 19th-century general store.
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On the map
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Image credits
- Azurite, Burra Mine, South Australia.jpg by JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) , CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons