Historic Burra, SA:

Mandy Jackson
Mar 8, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Mar 9, 2021

Burra in South Australia is a fascinating and very interesting little township situated less than 100 km north/east of Adelaide - the town has so much early Australian & mining history to share with others visiting the region. We pulled into Burra thinking we would be there for perhaps half a day, but we ended up spending two & a half days exploring all the historic sites around town & loved it - for $25 you can get a key from the visitors Centre, (called a 'Burra Passport'), which opens the door at every historic site around the towns heritage trail & you just self-tour in your own time, which we found to be brilliant - we were also told our doggies were welcome to go along & they loved exploring each site with us.

Burra is definately one to add to your bucket list - some of our favourite sites to visit in Burra included;

Old Hamilton Village Ruins:

The Hamilton village ruins sit on the edge of Burra and the area is laid out like an old English Village ... the site was abandoned in the 1960s and only crumbling ruins now remain - but it is still a very interesting spot to poke around in. (Brandi the Lab also found a couple of roos to chase out of hiding during our walk around Hamilton - which really made her day).

Miners Dugouts:

The early rapid development of the Burra Burra Copper Mine led to a shortage of housing. By 1851, about 1800 people out of the total population of 4400 were living in dugouts along the side of the Burra Creek such as those pictured below - the area became known as Creek Street.

However in 1851 a flood devastated Creek Street, drowning one person and driving most inhabitants from their dugouts. By 1860 the dugouts were mostly deserted. Three dugouts have survived in one of the creek side tributaries and we went to look at these - it is hard to imagine anyone living in these!

Unicorn Brewery Cellars:

This was such a fun place to visit - we felt like Indiana Jones in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark''. Being able to explore all the half-lit underground cellar tunnels that are buried beneath the brewery buildings by ourselves was fantastic.

The Unicorn Brewery was built in 1873 to service the 9 hotels that were in Burra for thirsty miners during the peak mining period. The brewery closed in 1902 and the main brewery buildings were dismantled to re-use the stone in 1911 ... but all the underground cellars, storerooms, stone fencing & managers office remain - we loved exploring this one & we didnt meet a single ghost!

Redruth Gaol:

Built in 1856 to house up to 30 badly behaved people - it was the first gaol built outside of Adelaide. The gaol closed in 1894 and later became a 'girls reformary' for wayward young girls - until 1922 when it closed.

Police Lock-up & Stables:

The Burra Lockup cells & stables were built in 1847 behind the rear of the police station, to house unruly drunks and misbehaving individuals. The lockup was built as a temporary gaol until Redruth Gaol was finished & the lockup was then later used as a forage store.

Malowen Lowarth Cottage:

An 1850 cottage which has been furnished in the style of an 1850 - 1860 period mine captain's residence & garden.

The Burra Burra Mine Site:

Copper ore was discovered near Burra Burra Creek in 1845 and soon after Burra Burra (later shortened to Burra) was bought & named by the South Australian Mining Association (SAMA). Burra became Australia's largest inland town at the time due to this 'Monster Mine' which bought thousands of mostly Cornish miners & their families to the area in search of work & copper. The mine produced 5% of the worlds copper production back in the mid 1800's and was a very rich & profitable industry in the early years of production. However, underground mining ceased in 1877 & the town began its decline. The mine was re-worked as an open cut mine from 1971 until 1981. Burra was made a National Heritage Listed Town in 2017.

The mines extensive site is spread across a large area with some interesting structures still remaining and it is being well preserved by the Burra council & a small group of commited local volunteers as a tourist attraction.

As well as all the historic spots we visited (above), we also enjoyed browsing the many antique and other shops in Burra township and in the morning we stopped for coffee & cake at the very friendly & nice cafe in the centre of town (with lots of delicious gluten free cakes). We also visited the Burra Regional Art Gallery, which had some nice artworks by local artists on display.

Both nights we stayed at a free camp site area about 22kms south/east of town at 'Worlds End Reserve' which was a great spot, very quite with very few other campers. On our first night's stay, we went for a walk along Worlds End Reserve creek bed & discovered some amazing gum trees that must have been incredibly old, as they were massive - Colin climbed into a cravis in one tree & completely disappeared - I had to photograph and share some pictures of the trees as they were lovely.

Burra also had a large number of really beautiful old houses & buildings, with lots of small miners cottages throughout the township - we took a drive around town to look at them all - it is so wonderful to see them when they are as old as some are in Burra - yet renovated & still in use (many of the small miners cottages are being used as B&B's).

However, in the country side around Burra we discovered it was obviously a little more difficult to preserve old buildings & the further out away from town you go many beautiful old buildings are just going to ruin & sit unused in paddocks - which is so sad!

We explored one old homestead we found abandoned near Worlds End Reserve that still had solid foundations, but was slowly being vandalised by brainless idiots & destroyed by weather. It was a stunning old beauty with verandahs, ornately painted walls & even a celler ... but it looked destined for a sad, unloved end! I left the area wishing I had the money to buy it & return it to its former beauty!