The Kernewek Lowender (officially the Kernewek Lowender Copper Coast Cornish Festival) is a Cornish-themed biennial festival held in the Copper Coast towns of Kadina, Moonta and Wallaroo on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. 'Kernewek Lowender' means 'Cornish happiness' in the Cornish language. It is held in the late autumn starting on the second Monday of May, in odd-numbered years. The Kernewek Lowender claims to be the world’s largest Cornish Festival outside Cornwall. [1]
The festival is held over seven days with the highlight being 'The Big Weekend', featuring three large fairs: the Village Green Fair, Fer Kernewek, and a Classic Cavalcade of Cars (with over 500 vintage cars and motorcycles). [2] Traditional Cornish food, such as Cornish pasties and Swanky beer is served during the Festival. maypole performances, furry dancing, and the selection of a May Queen are also included. [3] Other events include a street parade, a bake-off, the Gathering of the Bards and the Dressing of the Graves. The event has grown in popularity, and the 2013 (40th anniversary) festival attracted an estimated 37,000 people from intrastate, interstate and overseas, and included a record 43 events and 15 associated activities. [4] As of 2017, the region now hosts more than 45,000 visitors during the festival. [5] A number of participants also dress up in traditional costumes as Cornish Jacks and Cornish Jennies.
The festival was instigated by local businessmen such as Keith Russack, and Premier Don Dunstan in the early 1970s as an initiative to boost the then economically depressed Copper Coast. The original Cornish Festival committee formed Kernewek Lowender Incorporated in 1972, and chose the May long weekend for the festival. The first festival went ahead in 1973 with the assistance of a A$1000 grant from the South Australian government and exceeded the organisers' expectations. The region hosted 20,000 visitors during the festival, with 11,000 attending the Fer Kernewek (Cornish Fair) in Moonta, 15,000 visiting the Moonta Mines Museum, and 8,000 Cornish pasties consumed. [5] Dunstan himself later recalled: "When I proposed the establishment of a Cornish Festival, in Australia's "Little Cornwall", people of Cornish descent came flocking." [6]
Traditionally the festival culminated in a 3-day long weekend with events in each town for one day of the long weekend. However, when the Adelaide Cup Day public holiday was moved, [7] difficulties were experienced in scheduling events with only two days for the three towns, and concerns were raised over whether Wallaroo received enough focus. [8] Early in 2011, the ability to market Cornish pasties by that name at the festival was cast into doubt, following a trademark ruling by the European Commission. [9] The Cornish pasty was awarded Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status and it was unclear whether the European ruling would force Australian retailers to rename their pasty products to comply. [10]
A pasty is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England but has spread all over the British Isles. It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetables, on one half of a flat shortcrust pastry circle, folding the pastry in half to wrap the filling in a semicircle and crimping the curved edge to form a seal before baking.
The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Strait. The most populous town in the region is Kadina.
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.
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.
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.
The Cornish diaspora consists of Cornish people and their descendants who emigrated from Cornwall, United Kingdom. The diaspora is found within the United Kingdom, and in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, Panama, South Africa, the Samoas and Brazil.
The cultural calendar of Cornwall is punctuated by numerous historic and community festivals and celebrations. In particular there are strong links between parishes and their patronal feast days. There is also a tradition of holding celebrations associated with tin mining and fishing.
*This article is about a region in Australia. For coast of County Waterford, Ireland, see Copper Coast (Ireland).
The Copper Coast Council is a local government area in the Australian state of South Australia located at the northern end of the Yorke Peninsula. It was established in 1997 and its seat is in Kadina.
Cornish Australians are citizens of Australia who are fully or partially of Cornish heritage or descent, an ethnic group native to Cornwall in the United Kingdom.
Cornish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Cornwall and the Cornish people. It has been heavily influenced by the geography of the county as well as its social history.
Wallaroo Mines is a suburb of the inland town of Kadina on the Yorke Peninsula in the Copper Coast Council area. It was named for the land division in which it was established in 1860, the Hundred of Wallaroo, as was the nearby coastal town of Wallaroo. The boundaries were formally gazetted in January 1999 for "the long established name".
Hamley is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located on the Yorke Peninsula on the southern side of the urban area associated with Moonta about 130 kilometres north-west of the Adelaide city centre.
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.
The District Council of Northern Yorke Peninsula was a local government area in South Australia from 1984 to 1997. The council seat was at Kadina.
The Corporate Town of Moonta was a local government area in South Australia from 1872 to 1984, centred on the town of Moonta.
The District Council of Kadina was a local government area in South Australia from 1888 to 1984.
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.
The Hundred of Wallaroo is a cadastral unit of hundred located on the Copper Coast of South Australia. It is one of the 16 hundreds of the County of Daly. It was named in 1862 by Governor Dominick Daly after the indigenous term wadla warru presumed to mean wallaby urine.
The Moonta Cemetery in Moonta, South Australia was established under the Moonta Cemetery Trust in May 1866. Burials had occurred prior to that, with the town having been surveyed and land sold in March 1863. Plans for the cemetery were made in 1867 with walls erected between 1871 and 1876, the front gates made by J. H. Horwood and Co. of Adelaide. J. H. Horwood and Co. also cast the copper bell installed in 1896.
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34°07′11″S137°29′28″E / 34.119763°S 137.491150°E Coordinates: 34°07′11″S137°29′28″E / 34.119763°S 137.491150°E
