Big Day Out In Burra

Old Shop Front In Burra

We took the day to visit Burra yesterday, which is only a short drive from where we stay here at Saddlesworth.  The camp spot is just wonderful and has everything we want, and most of all, there is just us and one other van here, so all is nice and peaceful and quiet.

Burra is just 50kms north and one day is just not enough to see all there is to see in this wonderful little town.  One would need at least 3 days to see all this wonderful little town has to offer, but we only had the one day and hopefully we will have the chance to come back here some time soon.

The Duct Near Burra Creek with the Store Manager's Residence in the Background

Copper was discovered way back in 1845, near Burra Creek, and the company was the first Australian owned Copper Mine, and by 1851 it was the largest inland town.  The 'Monster Mine',  was the largest metal producing mine in Australia up until 1861.

The town has survived today as one of Australia's historic towns, due to its wonderful collection of historic buildings that give one an insight to days gone by.  In 1993 the township was listed under the National Heritage Trust as a significant historical site and one of the best preserved mining towns in the state.

The town is made up of what was once several little towns, inlcuding Kooringa, Redruth, Aberdeen, Llwcchwr, Hampton, Copperhouse, and New Aberdeen.  The remnants of Hampton remain today, along with the Gaol at Redruth, some real good Cornish names.

When you arrive in Burra, pay a visit to the Tourist Information Centre and you purchase a town 'Passport', for a minimal amount, which gets you into 3 museums and many of the towns attractions, which require a key to enter.  Some of these places include the following places.

Hampton Village

Old Stone Wall at Hampton

Old Hampton Village

Me!! at "My' House"

Old Dunny Left Behind

Old Chimney

RedRuth Gaol

RedRuth Gaol, was built in1856, and was the first gaol built in South Australia outside of Adelaide.  It housed thirty prisoners, both male and female, until closed in 1897, when if was transformed into a girls reformatory and finally closed in 1922.

Entry To RedRuth Gaol

The Yards

Lots Of Privacy In The Outside Dunny!!

The Kitchen

Cell Door

The Only Way Out

Unicorn Brewery and Cellars

In 1873, this brewery and cellars competed with 9 other hotels in town.  The brewery boasted a tall malting tower, a cooperage, a steam driven system of pumps and extensive cellars.  Forced to close by new licensing laws in 1902, it was demolished for its stone in 1902.  A trek down under the cellars was fascinating and the smell of fermenting brew still remains today in the tunnels and alley ways of the cellars

Old Brewery

The Cellars

One Of The Many Tunnels

The Miners Dugouts.

With such a rapid influx of miners to the mine there was an acute shortage of miners housing and many of the miners provided their own housing y building dug outs into the soft clay of Burra Creek, and were very much favoured by the miners as they were rent free and very handy to water.  Close on 1,800 people out of a population of 4,000 lived in these dug outs, until in 1851, three floods devastated  'Creek Street', and by 1860 all were deserted.  Today the dug outs exist due to restoration by the National Heritage Trust, but  how anyone can have lived in them is just beyond comprehension.

Entrance To One Of The Dug Outs

Barry Inside One Of The Dug Outs

Two Roomed Dug Out

Peacocks Chimney

The original chimney built for Peacock's winding Enginehouse built in 1857, the winding engine was used to haul from several mine shafts in the mine and was the longest serving engine at the mine.

Peacock's Chimney

Historic Burra Mine Site

The visit to the mine site is not complete without a visit to the Morphett's Enginehouse Museum.  A truly wonderful example of modern day renovation and restoration.  The volunteers there give you a very informative information session on the workings of the mine, before allowing you to wander at leisure over the old mine site.

The enginie house was built in 1858 and was  an amazing engineering feet of it's time.  It commenced pumping in 1860 and ceased in 1877 and removed for scrap in 1916 and the remaining building was destroyed by fire in 1925.  Through some of our photographs we will take you on a tour of the site, including the resulting 'Blue Lake' left as a result of the copper at the mine.  Not quite as blue as the Mt Gambier Lake, nor the one in Tasmania, but still a nice shade of blue.

The Morphetts Engine House

Entrance To The Museum

Old Dressing Tower and Ore Floor

Old Carriage's Ready To Take The Ore Away

One of The Many Old Tunnels Around The Mine Site

Some of The Bricks Of The Old Ruins - The Wonderful Colors from The Local Clay

Old Engineers House

Just See Barry Wandering Around Down The Bottom near the Old

The Stairway Leading Back Up The Top

The Blue Lake

The Powder Magazine

The Powder magazine is one of the oldest remaining mine  buildings in Australia.  Used to store gun powder for blasting of the ore from the rock faces of the mine.  Constructed well away from the actual mine workings.

Miner's Cottages

Built by James Tiver, a stone mason, employed by the mines he built the first row of these cottages in 1856 for his family.. There are now three rows, which have been fully restored and serve as useful accommodation for the town today.

James Tiver's Miner's Cottages

RedRuth Bridge

This old steel arch bridge was built in 1879 and now used as a footbridge, is made of iron and riveted steel.

RedRuth Bridge

So many other wonderful things to spend one's time in and around Burra, but there is only so much time one can spend and while away, but what a fascinating little town, and one that should be on everyone's list to visit and so pleased we did.

Next on the list for us is the 'Reisling Trail', which sounds really interesting and should provide us with another enthralling history lesson - so much one never got taught as school, and even though we did go to school in South Australia for a few short years, never realised just how much history there was in one little state, and how much more there is to see.

Another on our list is Eudunda, a small town not far from here, and to visit the little Rynie Pub, where only 'Bona Fide' travellers were allowed to be served drinks after 6pm - needless to say there were a lot of 'Bona Fide' Travellers on the road at the time - lol.  Oh so much to see, and how to fit it all in.

Off to Adelaide tomorrow for overnight - then sometime in the next few days we will be heading for Maitland on the Eyre Penninsular, and heading further west.

Hoping you have enjoyed our day in Burra - a town we must revisit ...one day soon.

A Panorma Of The Mine Site

The Blue Lake

Reflections In The Dam Against The Green Crops and Hills

Old Stone Ruin

Wild Red Weed

P.S.   All photographs on this site are the the copyrighted by the owner and shall not be used without the express permission of the owner. Strong penalities apply and will be strictly enforced.

Cassillis to Mendooran

Leaving the dust and the pollution of the Hunter Valley behind us, we headed out the Golden Highway - a little late in the day, but with only a short day ahead of us - making Cassillis our camp for the night.  Having only ever driven through Cassillis once before, it was great to actually take the time to walk this funny but almost extinct little town.

It's not until you walk around some of these little towns that you really get to see what they have to offer.  The towns folk are so friendly and love to pull you up and have a chat.  Tourists being somewhat of    a rarity.

Allan Cunningham, the explorer discovered the district in 1823 and settlement was established through the 1820’s by the predominance of wealthy landholders with the properties (called stations) ranging from five to twenty thousand acres, their pursuits being mainly pastoral. Cassilis is surrounded by the same historic properties today, although some have increased acreage up to 40,000 acres.  The entire village is heritage listed, inlcuding the Royal Hotel, The Anglican Church, the Police Station and Court House and quite a few other buildings.

St Columba Anglican Church

The Old Cemetery of St Columba

Old Headstone

 This old headstone caught my imagination - might be just be me?? but can you see the eyes and what appears to be a face emerging out of the stone?

The Royal Hotel

The Old Police Station and Court House

Catholic Church

Main Street - Cassillis

The amazing tree roots that look like they have been melted down onto the gutter

The Remains of the Old Masonic Lodge

Munmurra River

Camp Ground at Cassillis Rec Ground

Recreation Ground - Cassillis

Great little camp ground for just $10 per night for a powered site and the best hot showers. Take the time to take a break in Cassillis.

Barry At Dunedoo-just making sure he knew where we where going.

Hitting the road again we headed the short 40 kms to Dunedoo. A short stop over for lunch at the local and to stock up on groceries we hit the road for our final few kilometers for the day to Mendooran.  A must see along the way is the famous Ivy Rocks.  The country side is very dry and much in need of rain, and knowing our luck it surely will sometime in the near future.

Ivy Rock

The road to Mendooran is good bitumen road, and once in the town, you follow the signs to the camping ground and with about 6 acres to choose from - you would be hard pressed not to find a suitable site. All with water views of the Castlereagh River.   Just the basic facilities with toilets and a cold shower, but plenty of water and that great opportunity to enjoy that camp fire and enjoy the company of the many other fellow travellers.  So interesting to meet some people and find out where they are going and hear the tales of their adventures along the road.

Our First Night at Mendooran, with Don, Mick, Lorraine and Jenny

When we arrived at e met with Jenny and Mick, first time long term travellers' from Tasmania.  Later in the afternoon, Don and Lorraine arrived from the Central Coast, on their way to Lightening Ridge.  Next thing we are all gathered around a communal campfire enjoying happy hour.  The friendships that have ensured from these few days will be everlasting, we are sure.

Big Full Moon Over Mendooran

Julie, Lorraine and Jenny enjoying happy hour

Don - Telling one of his tall stories along with Peter and Mick

Other fellow travellers joined us later - Julie and Peter Gray from Old Bar - so from what started out as 6 of us - later turned into 12.  What a great time we had and it was really hard for all of us to go our separate ways, over the next couple of days.

The village of Mendooran, with its 300 odd residents,was first discovered in 1817 by John Oxley, on one of first inland expeditions.The small village grew in the 1860s on the old station near the bridge which passed over the Castlereagh River. As at 1866 there were 24 residents recorded in the area. The village was called Mundooran until the 1920's when the name was changed to Mendooran.  The Murals of Mendooran are a main attraction.

One of the 24 Murals of Mendooran

The free campsite on the banks of the Castlereagh River is one of the best you will find, and it is just great to be able to return the favour to the towns people by enjoying a meal at the local pub - the $10 Friday night fillet steak meal being a highlight - the company of the locals, just an added bonus.

Autumn Time

 Autumn is such a wonderful time to be travelling and gives me the opportunity to take shots like this, the colors just so wonderfully inspiring.  Some of the nights getting quite cool now, but the days have just been wonderful

Barry at our Mendooran Camp

We left Mendorran and headed to Brocklehurst, just out of Dubbo.  Another free camp, but not one that I would call our best, and so popular that it is more like  a caravan park.  No water either, which is a bit of an issue when free camping.  Decided to move on to Trangie yesterday after the rain started (see 'told you so lol') as the sites where were very unlevel and causing us some concern, about whether we would be able to get out if it continued to rain.  And rain it did and still is.

So here we are holed up in the Trangie Caravan Park, which is just great - staying for a few days to catch up with family and the washing, before we continue heading westward.

Hope you are all enjoying following our travels and the best is ahead of us.

Follow the links to become a follower of our blog so that you get email updates of our latest blog entries.

Hope to be headed to Hermidale for our next stop and hoping to make Renmark for the 10th of next month for the hot air balloon festival.  We are also booked in for the CMCA rally in Kalgoolie in October which we are looking forward to.

So until next time - family and friends