Back to photostream

Carved wooden doors on Truscott House erected in 1922 in Kadina on the Yorke Peninsula South Australia.Note the heads carved into the doors.

The town was laid out in 1860 by the government to provide a settlement for the Wallaroo mines of Walter Watson Hughes. Blocks were auctioned in 1861. The town took its name from the corruption of a local Aboriginal word meaning “lizard plain” Kaddyinna. By 1863 the town had a court house, police station, Post Office and telegraph station. At that time it took three or four days to travel to Adelaide but this was reduced to 12 hours when the road was completed in 1865. Near to the mines Cornish village settlements sprang up, often on leased Crown land until 1871 when the area was surveyed and the freehold sold to settlers. These villages included Matta Flat, Jerusalem, Jericho and Wallaroo Mines. Most of the buildings in these villages have now disappeared since the closure of the mine in 1923. Stone from some of the mine structures was used to build the Catholic Church in Kadina which opened in 1936. It is an especially fine building with limestone. The well laid out township of Kadina was destined to become the major commercial centre for the Copper Triangle once the railway from Adelaide arrived there in 1878.

 

Truscott House 1922. This amazing structure was built for the AMP Society in 1922 just before the mines closed. It is an example of a stripped classical building in dull cement render. It is similar in design to Old Parliament House in Canberra. It has remnants of classical columns across the front. Note the amazing sized front doors under the colonnade or veranda. Check out the carved wooden heads and scroll work in the doors- a typical feature of stripped classical buildings. It is probably the only example of this style of architecture in country SA. Goldsborough Mort eventually took over Truscott House and you might be able to discern their name on the side wall. Mr Truscott operated a grocery store on this site before the AMP built here. It has had many uses in the last 30 years.

4,170 views
3 faves
0 comments
Uploaded on August 21, 2013
Taken on March 9, 2004