Kadina

Kadina is a town on the Yorke Peninsula of the Australian state of South Australia, approximately 144 kilometres north-northwest of the state capital of Adelaide.

Kadina is a town on the Yorke Peninsula of the Australian state of South Australia, approximately 144 kilometres north-northwest of the state capital of Adelaide. The largest town of the Peninsula, Kadina is one of the three Copper Triangle towns famous for their shared copper mining history. The three towns are known as "Little Cornwall" for the significant number of immigrants from Cornwall who worked at the mines in the late 19th century.

Kadina's surrounds form an important agricultural base for the region, and are used for growing cereal crops. Kadina used to be a mining town but now the majority of Kadina's land is used for farming.

The Narungga are the group of Indigenous Australians whose traditional lands include what is now termed Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. The name "Kadina" is thought to be derived from Kadiyinya, a Narungga word meaning 'Lizard Plain'.

Copper was discovered at Wallaroo Mines in 1859 and adjacent land north east of the site was surveyed in 1861 to house miners and became the Government Town of Kadina. Exceptional amounts of copper were found in the following years. Copper was also found in large amounts at the nearby Matta Mine and Doora Mine. The copper mines attracted many highly experienced Cornish miners to Kadina.

In 1862, the Hundred of Wallaroo and Hundred of Kadina were proclaimed in order to allow parcels of land to be sold in the vicinity of the copper mines. In the same year a horse-drawn railway from Kadina to the port at Wallaroo, west of the town, was opened. Further lines connecting Kadina to Port Wakefield, to the southeast, and Bute, to the northeast, opened in 1878 and 1879, respectively.In 1872 Kadina became a municipality by establishment of the Corporate Town of Kadina. By 1875, the population had increased to 20,000, mostly composed of Cornish miners. In 1907 the adjacent Government Town of Kadina East was surveyed west of Eliza Terrace to cope with the need to house the growing population of the town.Mining at Kadina ceased completely in 1938, and the rail lines fell into disuse and were closed in 1989.