South Australian Mining Association

The town began as a single company mining township that, by 1851, was a set of townships (company, private and government owned) collectively known as "The Burra". Burra lies east of the Clare Valley in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, and on the Burra creek.

The town of Burra began in 1846 as the company settlement of Kooringa. As the population and the demand for freehold land increased, other villages were surveyed further north. These settlements - Redruth, Llwchwr, Aberdeen and Hampton - reflected the cultures of the various immigrants who flocked to the Burra Mine. In 1876 the individual townships were formed into the Corporation of the Town of Burra, but retained their identity until 1940, when the name Burra was adopted.

The mid-north town of Burra is located approximately 160 kilometres north-east of Adelaide, along the Barrier Highway. The settlement has developed around the Burra Creek and lies nestled in a valley surrounded by bare rolling hills - the trees long ago used to fuel the mine's smelters. The Burra precinct today consists of a number of distinct nineteenth century elements, including the Burra Mines and Smelts site, the Bon Accord Mine site, and the former villages of Kooringa, Redruth, Llwchwr, Aberdeen and Hampton.

Burra (S. Aust.)

South Australian Mining Association

Hodder, Edwin. George Fife Angas, father and founder of South Australia. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1891.

Perkins, Arthur James. South Australia; an agricultural and pastoral state in the making: first decade, 1836-46. Adelaide: Govt. Pr., 1939.

Pike, Douglas. Paradise of dissent: South Australia 1829-1857. 2nd ed. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1967. pp.196-220, ch. 9: 'The South Australian Company.'

Price, Archibald Grenfell. Founders & pioneers of South Australia: life studies of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Charles Sturt, George Fife Angas, Sir John Hindmarsh, William Light, George Gawler, David McLaren, Augustus Kavel, and Francis Cadell; with illustrations & maps. Adelaide: Preece, 1929.

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South Australia History, South Australian Mining Association John Morphett

South Australian History, Mining in the Northern Flinders Ranges, Early South Australian Mining, an overview

South Australain Legislation, South Australian Mining Act 1851

Department for Environment and Water SA, Burra State Heritage Area

State Library of South Australia Library Guides South Australian Company

State Library of South Australia Library Guides Mapping sources for SA History