Kadina. The Wallaroo Mines Institute building. Wallaroo Mines were actually on the edge of Kainda. Built 1902.
Wallaroo and Wallaroo Mines. We probably all know that Wallaroo is a contraction of two local Narrunga words meaning “wallabies urine.” But why did Robert Miller, a 19th century gentleman do this? Why not call his run Quandong or some other innocuous Narrunga word? Miller soon sold the leasehold on to Walter Watson Hughes. It was one of Hughes’ shepherds, John Boor, who found knobs of green copper in stone by a wombat burrow on the property in December 1859.( Another shepherd Ryan discovered copper at Moonta.) Hughes soon had the Wallaroo Mine operating using miners from the Burra copper mine by mid 1860. But the Wallaroo Mines were actually located at Kadina. Hughes had the mining rights and became the major shareholder of both the Wallaroo and the Moonta mining companies. He increased his fortune many fold over becoming one of the wealthiest men in SA. He was a great benefactor of the University of Adelaide, hence his title of “the Father of the University “.
But the story of Wallaroo, rather than Wallaroo Mines, is about smelting copper rather than mining it. Wallaroo was and still is a major SA port and so it was logical that smelters be established near shipping. The first shipment of copper left Wallaroo in July 1860; the first shipment of smelted copper left Wallaroo in January 1862. The current Hughes smelter chimney left at Wallaroo was one of thirteen smelter stacks built by the mid 1860s. The largest was 120 feet high. Wallaroo smelters are shown in this photograph from the State Archives dated 1870.
The township of Wallaroo emerged adjacent to the smelters as a government town in 1861 with the first Post Office opening in 1863 and the first school in 1861. A Rounsevell coach service linked Wallaroo with Adelaide via a steamer connection from Port Clinton; the Customs House was open for business by 1862; and a desalination plant was operating by 1862 to provide water for the smelters. (Water was also a problem for the Wallaroo Mines as the watertable was high and necessitated a large pump house to pump water from the deep shafts.) Within a few years, Wallaroo was a significant town. Churches, schools, shops and businesses all made this district the major focus of the state. A number of the streets of the town commemorate the names of major investors in the Wallaroo Mining Company or others involved in copper mining names such as Bagot, Hughes, Hay, Stirling, Smith ( from Robert Barr Smith), Elder, Duncan( nephew of Hughes) etc. Other streets reflecting the Cornish mining and Welsh smelting history of the town include Cornish, England, Scotland, and Wales streets.
In 1890 the Wallaroo and Moonta Mines amalgamated. The combined companies employed on average around 1,900 people a year in the mines and smelters. The peak year for employment was 1906 when the company hired 2,700 men. This followed a disastrous fire in 1904 when the large Taylor Shaft and poppet was destroyed by fire at Moonta Mines. There were three main shafts operating at the Wallaroo Mines by 1906, the Boors, Hughes and Office shafts. Between 1860 and 1923 when the mine closed the Wallaroo Mine alone had produced almost £10,000 million worth of copper and the Moonta Mine had produced over £20,000 million worth of copper. But the industrial story of Wallaroo did not cease with the closing of the mines and the smelters.
Once Professor John Custance of the newly founded Roseworthy Agricultural College (1883) discovered the value of superphosphate fertilizer to wheat yields in SA a new fertilizer industry emerged. By the end of the 1890s when usage of super became more widely practised three fertilizer plants were operating in SA, one at Port Adelaide, one at Torrensville and the last at Wallaroo. The copper smelters at Wallaroo produced sulphuric acid as a by product which was mixed with phosphate rock in kilns to form superphosphate. The Wallaroo Phosphate Company began operations in 1899. From 1899 onwards the main imports at the Port of Wallaroo were coal for the copper smelters and phosphate rock for the fertilizer ovens. (The main exports were copper and wheat.) The Wallaroo Phosphate Company merged with the Mt Lyell Fertilizer Company of Tasmania in 1913. When the copper mines closed down in 1923 the fertilizer works was the main industrial employer in Wallaroo. The company had sulphuric acid railed in from Port Pirie where it was a by product of the silver, lead and zinc smelters of BHP there. In 1965 this company became the Adelaide and Wallaroo Fertilizers Company and later the Adelaide Chemical Company. It eventually became Top Brand Fertilizers in 1980 and continued trading for some years but it no longer operates. Phosphate or guano rock was originally imported from Chile to Wallaroo but after 1907 shipments came from Nauru which is basically a phosphate island! Today phosphate rock is mined within Australia at Mt Isa, the infamous Christmas Island and Wonarah in the Northern Territory
Kadina. The Wallaroo Mines Institute building. Wallaroo Mines were actually on the edge of Kainda. Built 1902.
Wallaroo and Wallaroo Mines. We probably all know that Wallaroo is a contraction of two local Narrunga words meaning “wallabies urine.” But why did Robert Miller, a 19th century gentleman do this? Why not call his run Quandong or some other innocuous Narrunga word? Miller soon sold the leasehold on to Walter Watson Hughes. It was one of Hughes’ shepherds, John Boor, who found knobs of green copper in stone by a wombat burrow on the property in December 1859.( Another shepherd Ryan discovered copper at Moonta.) Hughes soon had the Wallaroo Mine operating using miners from the Burra copper mine by mid 1860. But the Wallaroo Mines were actually located at Kadina. Hughes had the mining rights and became the major shareholder of both the Wallaroo and the Moonta mining companies. He increased his fortune many fold over becoming one of the wealthiest men in SA. He was a great benefactor of the University of Adelaide, hence his title of “the Father of the University “.
But the story of Wallaroo, rather than Wallaroo Mines, is about smelting copper rather than mining it. Wallaroo was and still is a major SA port and so it was logical that smelters be established near shipping. The first shipment of copper left Wallaroo in July 1860; the first shipment of smelted copper left Wallaroo in January 1862. The current Hughes smelter chimney left at Wallaroo was one of thirteen smelter stacks built by the mid 1860s. The largest was 120 feet high. Wallaroo smelters are shown in this photograph from the State Archives dated 1870.
The township of Wallaroo emerged adjacent to the smelters as a government town in 1861 with the first Post Office opening in 1863 and the first school in 1861. A Rounsevell coach service linked Wallaroo with Adelaide via a steamer connection from Port Clinton; the Customs House was open for business by 1862; and a desalination plant was operating by 1862 to provide water for the smelters. (Water was also a problem for the Wallaroo Mines as the watertable was high and necessitated a large pump house to pump water from the deep shafts.) Within a few years, Wallaroo was a significant town. Churches, schools, shops and businesses all made this district the major focus of the state. A number of the streets of the town commemorate the names of major investors in the Wallaroo Mining Company or others involved in copper mining names such as Bagot, Hughes, Hay, Stirling, Smith ( from Robert Barr Smith), Elder, Duncan( nephew of Hughes) etc. Other streets reflecting the Cornish mining and Welsh smelting history of the town include Cornish, England, Scotland, and Wales streets.
In 1890 the Wallaroo and Moonta Mines amalgamated. The combined companies employed on average around 1,900 people a year in the mines and smelters. The peak year for employment was 1906 when the company hired 2,700 men. This followed a disastrous fire in 1904 when the large Taylor Shaft and poppet was destroyed by fire at Moonta Mines. There were three main shafts operating at the Wallaroo Mines by 1906, the Boors, Hughes and Office shafts. Between 1860 and 1923 when the mine closed the Wallaroo Mine alone had produced almost £10,000 million worth of copper and the Moonta Mine had produced over £20,000 million worth of copper. But the industrial story of Wallaroo did not cease with the closing of the mines and the smelters.
Once Professor John Custance of the newly founded Roseworthy Agricultural College (1883) discovered the value of superphosphate fertilizer to wheat yields in SA a new fertilizer industry emerged. By the end of the 1890s when usage of super became more widely practised three fertilizer plants were operating in SA, one at Port Adelaide, one at Torrensville and the last at Wallaroo. The copper smelters at Wallaroo produced sulphuric acid as a by product which was mixed with phosphate rock in kilns to form superphosphate. The Wallaroo Phosphate Company began operations in 1899. From 1899 onwards the main imports at the Port of Wallaroo were coal for the copper smelters and phosphate rock for the fertilizer ovens. (The main exports were copper and wheat.) The Wallaroo Phosphate Company merged with the Mt Lyell Fertilizer Company of Tasmania in 1913. When the copper mines closed down in 1923 the fertilizer works was the main industrial employer in Wallaroo. The company had sulphuric acid railed in from Port Pirie where it was a by product of the silver, lead and zinc smelters of BHP there. In 1965 this company became the Adelaide and Wallaroo Fertilizers Company and later the Adelaide Chemical Company. It eventually became Top Brand Fertilizers in 1980 and continued trading for some years but it no longer operates. Phosphate or guano rock was originally imported from Chile to Wallaroo but after 1907 shipments came from Nauru which is basically a phosphate island! Today phosphate rock is mined within Australia at Mt Isa, the infamous Christmas Island and Wonarah in the Northern Territory