Copper was discovered in 1859 on the pastoral station Wallaroo owned by WW Hughes. Further deposits were found in 1861. Hughes formed the Wallaroo and Moonta mining companies in association with Elder, Stirling and Co (later Elder Smith and Company).
Wallaroo was the main port on Spencer Gulf. Copper ore was exported from “Australia’s Little Cornwall”. Ships arrived bringing machinery, timber, coal and food supplies for the mines and left with cargoes of copper ore and ingots. As the land was taken up by agriculture, wool and grain were also exported from Wallaroo.
Large smelting works were part of Wallaroo’s industry where copper was smelted from the Moonta and Wallaroo Mines. It was heavy work and involved a three part smelting system finishing as 99.6% pure copper. The ore was hand barrowed into the final refining stage. Many Welsh smelter men were employed – the town had a distinct Welsh flavour and the Welsh language was spoken extensively. Wallaroo smelting Works were the largest in the world for a time. The Welsh influence can be seen by the smelter chimneys (one remains), they were square, unlike Cornish chimnneys which were round.
By 1865 Wallaroo was a sizeable town with a population of around 3000 which increased to 4000 by the turn of the century and to 5000 by the 1920s. When the smelters closed, it had a devastating effect on employment in the town and hundreds of people left.
For more information on the heritage of the area, two great books are available:
Copper to Gold, A History of Wallaroo
by Rex Wiltshire
and
Discovering Historic Wallaroo
by Department of Mines and Energy, Wallaroo
