Tungkillo. This old copper mining town was established 1851 a government school opened in 1861. The original government school is gone but this building from around 1924 remains. The red brick school has been cemented over. Closed 1970.
Tungkillo and the Reedy Creek Mine.
A Peramangk word “tainkila,” the name of a moth-grub which was used for the name the town of Tungkillo. In 1845 the Australian Mining Company was formed to exploit potential mining sites in SA. It was a London based company with SA directors, including George Palmer, Samuel Davenport, Fredrick Dutton on Kapunda, Charles Bagot of Kapunda mine, John Baker of Terlinga station and Jacob Hagen of Echunga. Some of them were also investors in the Paringa mine at Callington. The Reedy Creek Mining Survey of 20,000 acres was granted in 1846 centred on the Tungkillo district as John Baker had surmised that the stones around Tungkillo were similar to those found in other copper mines at Montacute where he had his main residence. 580 miners, mainly Cornish, were employed at the Reedy Creek mine and by late 1846 the first ship load of copper from the Tungkillo/Reedy Creek mine was sent back to smelters in Wales. George Dunn of Mt Torrens dug up the first piece of copper. The Company set aside 50 acres for an Anglican church at Tungkillo but the town hardly progressed as copper finds were sparse. Major Campbell arrived in 1849 to be mine superintendent so the recently licensed hotel was called the Campbell Arms. It operated from 1850-1858. The current township of Tungkillo was laid out in 1850 but there were settlements at the mine itself called Old Tungkillo (near Vincent), North Tungkillo (towards Mt Pleasant), and South Tungkillo (near Palmer).
The main settlement, Tungkillo soon had a Company store and a general store run by the Johnston family of Oakbank. A pump house was installed at the mine in 1850 and John Baker of Terlinga got someone to open a blacksmiths. A school operated at the mine from 1849-1857. But declining returns led to the closure of the mine in 1851. But many people stayed on to eke out a subsistence living in the settlements and at the mine. The Hundred of Tungkillo was declared in 1851 and some stayed on to purchase freehold land just outside of the Reedy Creek Mining lands. The Australian Mining Company did the obvious thing- it rented out its lands to small farmers and the larger pastoralists- mainly John Baker. So Tungkillo like other failed mining settlements did not disappear, it just changed. The company leased 17,000 of the 20,000 acres to John Baker and to John Howard Angas. The Company made a regular income from rents rather than mining but it did try to revive the mine in the mid 1850s but without success.
One land owner Samuel Patten laid out a town which he called South Petherton in 1861. This locale is what we now call Tungkillo. In fact the names Tungkillo and South Petherton were used interchangeably until 1906. Tungkillo grew slowly after the closure of the mine in 1851 but some old cottages date from this period. Around 1850 the Tungkillo Hotel was built and traded until just a few years ago. Land sales for the new survey of 50 allotments at Tungkillo in 1861 were conducted at the Tungkillo Hotel. At a later stage J and A Johnston of Oakbank owned the hotel and they put it up for sale in 1904. The hotel got a makeover in the 1920s when Mrs and Mrs Comley were the licensees and the hotel was owned by Mr Jack Buckley. For many decades Laubman and Pank did eye tests at the hotel periodically. The town got a boost when the New Reedy Creek mine operations began in 1868 and it was then that the Primitive Methodist Chapel (1867) was erected in Tungkillo. The church became a Methodist Church in 1900 and finally closed as a Uniting Church in 2000 when it was sold. The old stone general store of Tungkillo from the mid 19th century still stands but does not trade. A more recent building in Tungkillo is the Soldiers Memorial Hall. Meetings started in 1947 after World War Two to form a committee to have a hall erected. Johnston brewery of Oakbank donated £70 for the committee to purchase a block of land. Fund raising began and then petered out between 1954 and 1974! More talk of a hall began in the 1990s and the Tungkillo Soldiers Memorial Hall officially opened in 2003. It was nearly 70 years in the making! An earlier Tungkillo Hall was built in 1913 but was abandoned some years later. The town war monument was erected in 1929. A school opened in Tungkillo in 1861 and became a government school after 1875. A new school room was built in the 1920s. The school closed in 1970 and that old school room is now a residence.
In 1868 with much fanfare the Australian Mining Company, with support of John Morphett, restarted the engine pump and re-employed 179 miners to try again to find worthwhile amounts of copper at Reedy Creek. It was at this time that the Company laid out the township of Palmer. The Governor of SA Sir James Fergusson visited the New Reedy Creek mine in 1869 but his visit did not improve copper returns. In 1872 a major flood along the Reedy Creek flooded the shafts and the mine shut down again. In 1898 a new mining company took over the mine which they called the Kitticoola Gold and Copper Mine Pty Ltd. They leased 531 acres from the Australian Mining Company. Their ore was taken to the cyanide works at nearby Mt Torrens for processing. A handful of men, usually six or less, worked for this company for many years with very low returns until 1938 and then sporadically until 1971. Over its life some 162 kilos (5,700 ounces) of gold and 7,000 tons of copper were recovered from the Kitticoola /Reedy Creek mine.
Tungkillo. This old copper mining town was established 1851 a government school opened in 1861. The original government school is gone but this building from around 1924 remains. The red brick school has been cemented over. Closed 1970.
Tungkillo and the Reedy Creek Mine.
A Peramangk word “tainkila,” the name of a moth-grub which was used for the name the town of Tungkillo. In 1845 the Australian Mining Company was formed to exploit potential mining sites in SA. It was a London based company with SA directors, including George Palmer, Samuel Davenport, Fredrick Dutton on Kapunda, Charles Bagot of Kapunda mine, John Baker of Terlinga station and Jacob Hagen of Echunga. Some of them were also investors in the Paringa mine at Callington. The Reedy Creek Mining Survey of 20,000 acres was granted in 1846 centred on the Tungkillo district as John Baker had surmised that the stones around Tungkillo were similar to those found in other copper mines at Montacute where he had his main residence. 580 miners, mainly Cornish, were employed at the Reedy Creek mine and by late 1846 the first ship load of copper from the Tungkillo/Reedy Creek mine was sent back to smelters in Wales. George Dunn of Mt Torrens dug up the first piece of copper. The Company set aside 50 acres for an Anglican church at Tungkillo but the town hardly progressed as copper finds were sparse. Major Campbell arrived in 1849 to be mine superintendent so the recently licensed hotel was called the Campbell Arms. It operated from 1850-1858. The current township of Tungkillo was laid out in 1850 but there were settlements at the mine itself called Old Tungkillo (near Vincent), North Tungkillo (towards Mt Pleasant), and South Tungkillo (near Palmer).
The main settlement, Tungkillo soon had a Company store and a general store run by the Johnston family of Oakbank. A pump house was installed at the mine in 1850 and John Baker of Terlinga got someone to open a blacksmiths. A school operated at the mine from 1849-1857. But declining returns led to the closure of the mine in 1851. But many people stayed on to eke out a subsistence living in the settlements and at the mine. The Hundred of Tungkillo was declared in 1851 and some stayed on to purchase freehold land just outside of the Reedy Creek Mining lands. The Australian Mining Company did the obvious thing- it rented out its lands to small farmers and the larger pastoralists- mainly John Baker. So Tungkillo like other failed mining settlements did not disappear, it just changed. The company leased 17,000 of the 20,000 acres to John Baker and to John Howard Angas. The Company made a regular income from rents rather than mining but it did try to revive the mine in the mid 1850s but without success.
One land owner Samuel Patten laid out a town which he called South Petherton in 1861. This locale is what we now call Tungkillo. In fact the names Tungkillo and South Petherton were used interchangeably until 1906. Tungkillo grew slowly after the closure of the mine in 1851 but some old cottages date from this period. Around 1850 the Tungkillo Hotel was built and traded until just a few years ago. Land sales for the new survey of 50 allotments at Tungkillo in 1861 were conducted at the Tungkillo Hotel. At a later stage J and A Johnston of Oakbank owned the hotel and they put it up for sale in 1904. The hotel got a makeover in the 1920s when Mrs and Mrs Comley were the licensees and the hotel was owned by Mr Jack Buckley. For many decades Laubman and Pank did eye tests at the hotel periodically. The town got a boost when the New Reedy Creek mine operations began in 1868 and it was then that the Primitive Methodist Chapel (1867) was erected in Tungkillo. The church became a Methodist Church in 1900 and finally closed as a Uniting Church in 2000 when it was sold. The old stone general store of Tungkillo from the mid 19th century still stands but does not trade. A more recent building in Tungkillo is the Soldiers Memorial Hall. Meetings started in 1947 after World War Two to form a committee to have a hall erected. Johnston brewery of Oakbank donated £70 for the committee to purchase a block of land. Fund raising began and then petered out between 1954 and 1974! More talk of a hall began in the 1990s and the Tungkillo Soldiers Memorial Hall officially opened in 2003. It was nearly 70 years in the making! An earlier Tungkillo Hall was built in 1913 but was abandoned some years later. The town war monument was erected in 1929. A school opened in Tungkillo in 1861 and became a government school after 1875. A new school room was built in the 1920s. The school closed in 1970 and that old school room is now a residence.
In 1868 with much fanfare the Australian Mining Company, with support of John Morphett, restarted the engine pump and re-employed 179 miners to try again to find worthwhile amounts of copper at Reedy Creek. It was at this time that the Company laid out the township of Palmer. The Governor of SA Sir James Fergusson visited the New Reedy Creek mine in 1869 but his visit did not improve copper returns. In 1872 a major flood along the Reedy Creek flooded the shafts and the mine shut down again. In 1898 a new mining company took over the mine which they called the Kitticoola Gold and Copper Mine Pty Ltd. They leased 531 acres from the Australian Mining Company. Their ore was taken to the cyanide works at nearby Mt Torrens for processing. A handful of men, usually six or less, worked for this company for many years with very low returns until 1938 and then sporadically until 1971. Over its life some 162 kilos (5,700 ounces) of gold and 7,000 tons of copper were recovered from the Kitticoola /Reedy Creek mine.