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Published: April 20th 2013
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A Fun day
And on a tiny budget Saturday 20th
What would you expect for $14.00 for a days outing?
Well, we have had a ball.
First stop was a trip to Woolworths to top up the supplies and diesel ready for heading into the Flinders Ranges, and then the fun began. On the outskirts of Kadina is 'The Farm Shed', a most engaging historical museum of much more than farm bits and pieces. The information centre lady said that she would be surprised if we were out in less than 1 1/2 hours.
She was so right. Some of these historical centres have many old buildings like Tailem Bend, this only a few, but exceptional choices, impressively presented. The house featured in the photos was in fact the mine captain's (manager's) residence for the copper mine located at Kadina in its original location.
There was of course in this rural centre examples of all sorts of machinery and brands of machines long forgotten or superseded.
Have you ever seen a stone remover? Designed and patented here on the peninsular to pick up stones while scarifying the soil. One look at the pastures here even now tells you that these would have been
Matchless
Not an exhibit, but belonged to one of the volunteers. essential developing this limestone based farms.
The photos will tell the story.
A short drive from here we arrived at Moonta Railway Station. It is a long time since a train visited the platform, and the attractive building is now the information centre at Moonta. Good spot for lunch before we moved on to the second activity for the day, the Moonta Coppermine Train. This 1 hour journey is an eye opener into the mining history of this area. The engine driver is well informed on the mining history, and highlights both the toughness of those days and the riches recovered from the mines. This is not one mine, but a number of vertical shafts where miners were lowered down up to 300 meters in small baskets to go about their digging. Generally about 170 miners were on site, and in one year 170 died from either accident or poisoning or other health issues. Long live the King, but not the miners.
One of the curiosities here is the 1200 seat Methodist Church adjacent to the mine site. And it has a beautiful pipe organ central behind the alter, but otherwise a smart but simple building. The
story goes that the miners were 'encouraged' to go to church every Sunday. Miss too many and job prospects diminished seriously.
We still had a little time to look around Moonta township. We find these towns quaint, but I guess if you have always lived on the Peninsular, they would be seen as normal.
The area here has a strong Cornish influence, and there is rivalry between bakeries to make Cornish Pasties. Do you know why Cornish Pasties have a peaked top? Apparently this came about as a preventative health measure for the miners. The miner's wives made these for their men to eat on the job, down the pit. Any water in the pit would be acidic, and their hand dirty. So they heated their Pasties over candle type warmers, picked them up to eat by the peak, and then threw the top away so as not to consume acid, copper oxide or any other grit or junk.
To complete the photos for the day are a few shots taken around this tidy and very active town. One of the locals told us that the town is very busy every Saturday and Sunday with tourists and
The Farm Shed Museum
An old (1930s) Case tractor an plough locals alike coming for a great day out.
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Mum & Dad
non-member comment
Another set of good photos.
liked the Matchless MC and sidecar well remember those in my younger days. Great blog once again. Gave Kelly the blog site and she may pop up but not sure whether she has to be invited in though,