Kanmantoo, South Australia

Last updated

Kanmantoo
South Australia
Kanmantoowelcomesign.jpg
Kanmantoo welcome sign on the Old Highway
Australia South Australia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Kanmantoo
Coordinates 35°04′16″S139°00′43″E / 35.071°S 139.012°E / -35.071; 139.012
Population511 (UCL 2021) [1]
Postcode(s) 5252
Location
LGA(s) District Council of Mount Barker
State electorate(s) Kavel
Federal division(s) Mayo
Localities around Kanmantoo:
Brukunga Harrogate Rockleigh
Dawesley Kanmantoo Monarto
Petwood St Ives Callington

Kanmantoo is a small mining town in South Australia. [2] It is southeast of Adelaide in the eastern Adelaide Hills. It is in the catchment basin of the Bremer river. The name, derived from a local aboriginal word Kunga Tuko means, "different speech". In 1839 Scottish squatters were the first Europeans to settle in the area. Some of the first residents were Joseph Lean, Henry Jackson Farrington, and William Snell. Joseph Lean arrived 13 December 1840 and for several years captained some of the earliest Kanmantoo mines. Lean was a seasoned Cornish miner, and was one of the pioneers of mining in Kanmantoo. A newspaper in 1915 reported that he was the one to discover the Ore in the Kanmantoo mine. He and his descendants pioneered the nearby town of Staughton, which is now a ghost town.

Contents

Infrastructure

More hotels were established in Kanmantoo than any other town in the Adelaide Hills. All of them had short lives, the longest surviving one, the Kanmantoo Hotel, Which licensed from 1863 till 1929. Nothing of that hotel now remains. The town, once a bustling economic and mining centre, now a sleepy shadow of a town it used to be. Kanmantoo reached a high in the 1860s, mining employed many and agriculture was well established. There was a blacksmith at Kanmantoo from about the start of the town. The Blacksmith cottage is still standing in the town today.[ citation needed ]

On the outskirts of Kanmantoo a fertiliser supplier called Neutrog manufactures fertilisers and garden enhances. The company started in 1988 and is based at Kanmantoo. The factory site covers an area of 20 hectares and employs over 50 people.[ citation needed ]

Mining

The town is named after the Kanmantoo mine about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) south. In 1840, copper was found and the Kanmantoo mine was opened by the South Australia company. Cornish, German, English and Irish came in abundance to the area for the "rich" potential in mining. In 1845, Geologists reported that the quality of the surface ore looked to be even more valuable than survey taken at Burra Creek. Consequently, a land survey was taken by The South Australia Company. This immense area was 4 miles wide and 8 miles from north to south. The mine was named by William Gilles after a local Aboriginal word. [3] [4] The site of the old underground mine is now in a much larger open cut with new explorations of underground lodes of copper and gold. The mine is now owned by Hillgrove Resources. [5] It is in the Adelaide Geosyncline.[ citation needed ]

Transport

Kanmantoo is on the Old Princes Highway between Nairne and Callington, but most through traffic now bypasses the town on the South Eastern Freeway. An exception to this is Cyclists, as they are unable to use the freeway to travel between Adelaide and Murray Bridge. The Adelaide-Wolseley railway line also passes near the mine, but there is no station at Kanmantoo.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coober Pedy</span> Town in South Australia

Coober Pedy is a town in northern South Australia, 846 km (526 mi) north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. A blower truck is raised above the town sign, representing the importance of opal mining to the town's history. Coober Pedy is also renowned for its below-ground dwellings, called "dugouts", which are built in this fashion due to the scorching daytime heat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cobar</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Cobar is a town in central western New South Wales, Australia whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is 712 km (442 mi) by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier Highway. The town and the local government area, the Cobar Shire, are on the eastern edge of the outback. At the 2016 census, the town of Cobar had a population of 3,990. The Shire has a population of approximately 4,700 and an area of 44,065 square kilometres (17,014 sq mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burra, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of South Australia. It lies east of the Clare Valley in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, and on Burra Creek. The town began as a single company mining township that, by 1851, was a set of townships collectively known as "The Burra". The Burra mines supplied 89% of South Australia's and 5% of the world's copper for 15 years, and the settlement has been credited with saving the economy of the struggling new colony of South Australia. The Burra Burra Copper Mine was established in 1848 mining the copper deposit discovered in 1845. Miners and townspeople migrated to Burra primarily from Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Germany. The mine first closed in 1877, briefly opened again early in the 20th century and for a last time from 1970 to 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallaroo, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Wallaroo is a port town on the western side of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, 160 kilometres (100 mi) northwest of Adelaide. It is one of the three Copper Triangle towns famed for their historic shared copper mining industry, and known together as "Little Cornwall", the other two being Kadina, about 8 kilometres (5 mi) to the east, and Moonta, about 18 kilometres (11 mi) south. In 2016, Wallaroo had a population of 3,988 according to the census held.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captains Flat</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Captains Flat is a town in the Southern Tablelands of rural New South Wales, Australia, in Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. It is south of Queanbeyan. Captains Flat township is bounded by the non-urban parts of the locality of Captains Flat in the north, east and west, and Captains Flat Road, the Molonglo River and Foxlow Street in the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blinman</span> Town in South Australia

Blinman is a locality incorporating two towns in the Australian state of South Australia within the Flinders Ranges about 425 kilometres (264 mi) north of the state capital of Adelaide. It includes the highest surveyed town in South Australia, with a population in the 2021 census of 43. It serves as a base for large-acre pastoralists and tourism. Blinman is just north of the Flinders Ranges National Park, 60 kilometres north of Wilpena Pound. It is named after Robert Blinman, the shepherd who discovered its mineral resource.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kadina, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moonta, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Moonta is a town on the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia, 165 km (103 mi) north-northwest of the state capital of Adelaide. It is one of three towns known as the Copper Coast or "Little Cornwall" for their shared copper mining history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Hope, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Mount Hope is a settlement in western New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on the Kidman Way, 95 kilometres north of Hillston and 160 km south of Cobar. A government township called 'Nombinnie' was surveyed in the mid-1880s but that name was rarely used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strathalbyn, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Strathalbyn is a town in South Australia, in the Alexandrina Council. In 2016, the town had a population of approximately 6,500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palmer, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Palmer is a town just east of the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia along the Adelaide-Mannum Road, 70 kilometres east-north-east of the state capital, Adelaide and 15 km west-north-west of Mannum. It is located in the Mid Murray Council local government area. At the 2006 census, Palmer had a population of 329.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beltana</span> Town in South Australia

Beltana is a town 540 kilometres (336 mi) north of Adelaide, South Australia. Beltana is known for continuing to exist long after the reasons for its existence had ceased. The town's history began in the 1870s with the advent of copper mining in the area, construction of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line and The Ghan railway and began to decline in 1941 with the beginning of coal mining at Leigh Creek. The fortune of the town was sealed by the 1983 realignment of the main road away from the town. The town, adjacent cemetery and railway structures are now part of a designated State Heritage Area declared in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whim Creek, Western Australia</span> Town in Western Australia

Whim Creek is a small town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortescue (company)</span> Iron ore mining company in Western Australia

Fortescue is a global metal mining and green energy company headquartered in Australia. Fortescue focused on iron ore mining under the name of Fortescue Metals Group until July 2023. As of 2017, Fortescue is the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the world. The company has holdings of more than 87,000 km2 in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, making it the largest tenement holder in the state, larger than both BHP and Rio Tinto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Callington, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Callington is a small town on the eastern slopes of the Adelaide Hills, in South Australia. Callington is situated on the Bremer River, and is adjacent to the South Eastern Freeway and the Adelaide-Wolseley railway line, however no trains have stopped at the station for many years. Callington is located within the state electoral district of Kavel and the federal division of Mayo.

Kanmantoo is an Australian Aboriginal word which was applied to a copper mine in South Australia during the 19th century. It can now refer to:

The Kanmantoo mine is a copper mine in the Australian state of South Australia located near the town of Kanmantoo about 55 kilometres (34 mi) southeast of the state capital of Adelaide.

The Australian Cornish Mining Sites are historic sites in South Australia listed jointly on the Australian National Heritage List. There are two distinct sites – Burra in the mid-north of the state and Moonta Mines in the northern Yorke Peninsula region. The heritage value of both sites relates to their history as mines worked by migrant miners from Cornwall. The sites were inscribed on the Australian National Heritage List on 9 May 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hundred of Kanmantoo</span> Cadastral in South Australia

The Hundred of Kanmantoo is a cadastral unit of hundred in the eastern Adelaide Hills. One of the 10 hundreds of the County of Sturt, it was proclaimed on 13 November 1847 by Governor Frederick Robe and named after the Kanmantoo gold mine, itself presumed to be named after an indigenous term by William Giles.

Hillgrove Resources is an Australian mining company. Its principal activity has been the Kanmantoo copper mine which was forecast to reach the end of its economic life. Mine life has since been extended, however to a further 6-10 years. Hillgrove also has exploration rights for other prospects in the area, such as extending the Kanmantoo mine underground, and another deposit near Sanderston.

References

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Kanmantoo (urban centre and locality)". Australian Census 2021.  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. "2905.0 - Statistical Geography: Volume 2 -- Census Geographic Areas, Australia, 2006". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  3. "Placename Details: Kanmantoo". 5 February 2007. SA0033992. Retrieved 16 February 2015. Name originally applied by William Giles to a mine owned by the South Australian Company. Boundaries created in November 2003 for long established name.
  4. "Placename Details: Hundred of Kanmantoo". 29 January 2009. SA0033997. Retrieved 10 September 2018. Aboriginal word originally applied by W Giles to a mine owned by SA Company. Area 91 square miles.
  5. "Kanmantoo Mine History". Hillgrove Resources. Retrieved 16 February 2015.

See also