The weather improves quickly when spring comes around in South Australia and this weekend is supposed to be pretty nice. Faith and I were talking tonight about what we might do over the weekend and we decided we'll to take a drive 165 kilometres north of Adelaide to the small country town of Moonta. (Pronounced moon-ta)
This little town was settled in the mid-1800's after copper deposits were discovered in the area; It's a cool story actually. A shepherd tending his flock saw what he thought were copper deposits on the top of a wombat burrow and reported it to the authorities. Things moved quickly from there and word spread...Pretty soon copper mining began and who powered it? My ancestors! Ok, not all of them were my ancestors, but some were.
Many skilled Cornish miners, at the time the best miners in the world, rushed over for what they thought would be a new prosperous life. Back in Cornwall things were rather dire due to the depression across many industries which hit around the 1840's so the promise of jobs lured the miners to Australia; They brought a little bit of Cornwall with them of course: Architecture, food (legit pasties) and their general way of life.
The opening of the Moonta mines, and the copper it produced, helped bring financial stability to the flagging colony of South Australia and by the 1850's South Australia was the world's third largest copper producer. Thanks Cornish miners, your hard work and perseverance helped build this State!
Life wasn't easy for the miners...It was back-breaking work over twelve to fourteen hour shifts, six days a week. There was little comfort when they went home either; Most hardly any possessions to their name and their housing was rudimentary, sometimes only dugouts. Life was very hard for the men in the mines and their families above ground. This wasn't helped much by the lack of quality medical care either and many died young from simple ailments left untreated. They made a life though, and Moonta became South Australia's second largest town, and people like me can trace heritage directly back to those miners and their families.
These days it's a sleepy little coastal town of about 630 people with a few cafe's and bakeries, a heritage centre, mine tours and a few quaint little shops here and there although I have heard it's struck hard times lately which is sad.
Here's a Cornish pasty - I snapped this one in Porthleven, Cornwall right before I ate it. To be honest I'm surprised I waited long enough to photograph it.
We'll head up there for a drive, grab a Cornish pasty, one of the most legit things a person could ever eat and may hit the heritage centre for a look around. We'll head out to the old cemetery too I guess, find a few of my long-dead ancestors.
I'm looking forward to the drive, a 350-360km round trip...A stop for lunch, coffee, some heritage...Seems like a good way to spend a day to me.
It's only Friday, I know...But it's never too early to start thinking about the weekend right? What are y'all doing? Are you freestyling it or do you have some set plans like I do on Sunday? Drop your comments below, let me know what you'll be up to over the weekend.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
Discord: galenkp#9209
Engage the weekend Community - A community dedicated to the weekend!