Burra, Clare Valley Region, SA

 It was a quiet day yesterday with Philip having a wheel alignment on the Toyota and myself booked in for a cut and colour.  Jobs completed and satisfied with both.  So today it was time to hit the tourist trail again, this time to the township of Burra on the northern end of the Clare Valley.

What can I tell you about Burra.  It is a State Heritage listed town because of its wealth of outstanding historic buildings and the opportunity it offers the visitor to understand a little of what it was like in a 19th century copper mining town. The town came up with the idea of offering a "Burra Heritage Passport Key" that gives access to eight locked sites around the town.  For a small fee you are given the key, map and a guide book which lists a total of 49 historic sites spread out over a distance of 11km that you can walk or drive.

Our first stop was the Monster Mine Site where we visited the Engine Room that had great views from the third floor looking out over the old mine pit. I don't pretend to understand how these massive engines operate but Philip was enthralled.

After the mine we drove to a lookout that offered us a great view of Burra township with it's lovely rolling hills in the background and from here it was to the old Burra Railway Station with a display of ladies dresses from the early 1900's in the "Ladies Waiting Room".

We continued to follow the Burra Heritage Trail that took us past many more historic buildings and we stopped at the Redruth Gaol.  We had the key to enter the goal area and read that it was erected in 1856 and was the first gaol in South Australia outside Adelaide.  The goal was closed in 1894 and was renovated and reopened as a Girls Reformatory in 1897 until its closure in 1922.  And if you think the goal looks familiar it was also used in the movie "Breaker Morant".

Our last stop was at the "dug-outs".  The early rapid developments of the Burra Copper Mine led to a housing shortage so around 1800 people lived in dug-outs known as Creek Street. We had a look inside them and they were dark and dank and I read that in 1851 a flood devastated Creek Street and by 1860 the dugouts were deserted.

We finished the tourist drive around 1.30 and headed to the Burra Hotel that has a reputation for good quality and reasonably priced meals.  The review was not wrong and we had a delicious meal of Saltbush Snags and veggie for Philip while I chose the home-made Lamb Pie, Salad and Chips.

I just want to leave you with one last photo that you may remember from the cover of Midnight Oil's album "Diesel and Dust".  The old abandoned homestead could really tell some stories.