We’ve been taking a break from driving for a couple of days at the seaside town of Moonta Bay on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula. At any other time this would be the perfect place to chill for a while but, unfortunately, not right now.

South Australia is in the grip of a sustained drought and the current weather is doing little to help. After months of strong winds as we travelled around Western Australia, we arrived in South Australia to a change of weather with light breezes and blistering heat. Today it reached 44.2C after having only dropped to 31C overnight. Two more days of temperatures in the 40’s are predicted before a cooler change moves through the region. We’re fortunate to have air-conditioning in our caravan but feel for those camping in tents right now.

Copper Country

Moonta Bay is located on the Copper Coast, which is a huge wheat and barley producing region but once, as its name suggests, this was copper country. First discovered by shepherd Patrick ‘Paddy’ Ryan in 1861, copper was a major source of wealth for the region through until 1923 and is clearly visible in the number of ornate municipal buildings and stone cottages around Moonta township.

The South Australian government put out a call for experienced miners in England, which resulted in an influx of miners from Cornwall just as the tin industry there began to decline. One of the advertisements placed in a Cornish newspaper read:

‘Free Emigration to Port Adelaide, South Australia. Married agricultural labourers, shepherds, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, employers, tailors, shoe-makers, brick-makers, builders and all persons engaged in useful occupations may obtain a free passage to South Australia where they are within the regulations of the Colonial Commissioners. Meeting to be held at Bodmin at 10 o’clock on October 15’.

In fact so many settled in Moonta and the neighbouring mining town known as Moonta Mine, that several cornish traditions have become part of typical Australian life in this region and continue to this day including Kernewek Lowender – the largest Cornish Festival in the world. Even the humble Cornish Pasty can still be found on the menu.

Moonta became the second largest town in South Australia during this period and the largest copper region in the British Empire. A report for the mine in 1914 showed that by that time £5,396,146 worth of copper had been produced. In current times that equates to in excess of A$ 8.6-billion. And for Patrick Ryan’s discovery he received a considerable weekly payment of £6 but died just nine months later from alcoholic poisoning.

Moonta Bay Jetty

The jetty was constructed in 1868 in an attempt to encourage people to build and settle in the town shortly after the area had been surveyed. It was far from the ideal location with a very shallow bay requiring the jetty to reach out 500-metres to a point the water was deep enough to handle any sizeable ship.

The more practical and preferred location, however, was Port Hughes a short distance along the coast and eventually common sense prevailed with the Port Hughes Jetty being constructed shortly after.

Today Moonta Bay is the ideal location for a relaxing seaside break with a large waterfront caravan and camping site, hotel and motel. It is perfect for young children with its very shallow bay, warm crystal clear water and fine white sand. Moonta town has all the usual small shops, supermarket and fuel stations just 2KM from the bay.

Moonta Mine is now under the care of the National Trust and houses an excellent display of life during the mining days as well as many of the original buildings and the typically Cornish Engine House constructed to pump water from the mines.

And if your visit coincides with the extreme heat we have experienced, we can highly recommend the Coffee Barn and Gelateria in Moonta Mines for something to cool you down in their air-conditioned shop.