Moonta Mines

Moonta Mines is a locality at the northern end of the Yorke Peninsula, adjoining the town of Moonta.

Moonta Mines is a locality at the northern end of the Yorke Peninsula, adjoining the town of Moonta. It is located in the Copper Coast Council. From 1861 to 1923, it was the centre of a copper mining industry that formed colonial South Australia's largest mining enterprise. A substantial portion of the locality is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register as the Moonta Mines State Heritage Area and on the National Heritage List as the Australian Cornish Mining Heritage Site, Moonta Mines.

Patrick " Paddy " Ryan, a shepherd for pastoralist Sir Walter Hughes, discovered copper on Hughes' property at Moonta in May 1861. The Tiparra Mining Association (later the Moonta Mining Company) commenced operations in 1862 after a legal battle over title to the claim. It proved extremely successful, with the Moonta deposits resulting in high yields. It saw a particular influx of miners from Cornwall in England. The government town of Moonta was surveyed in 1863, which resulted in a division between the professional classes in Moonta and a more informal township dominated by mining workers at Moonta Mines. The Moonta miners' undertook a major strike in 1864 over concerns about mining practices.By 1875, the success of the Moonta Mines and those in the surrounding area had made Moonta the second largest town in South Australia and the largest copper region in the British Empire; Moonta Mines itself had a population of 5,000 residents. In 1876, the Moonta Mining Company became the first mining company in Australia to pay out one million pounds in dividends. However, living conditions were poor and many lives were lost to disease during this time. Copper prices had begun to decline by the 1880s, and in 1889 forced the Moonta Mining Company to merge with the owners of Wallaroo Mines to form the Wallaroo and Moonta Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd. The mine finally closed in 1923, after which the Moonta Mines locality sharply declined, although the cementation works continued in use until 1943. The Moonta Mines State Heritage Area was declared in 1984. The modern locality of Moonta Mines was established in January 1999, when boundaries were formalised for the long established name.