Kapunda Mine Historic Site

In 1842, pastoralist Francis Dutton noticed green-stained rock in a paddock while searching for stray sheep; his neighbour Captain Charles Bagot recognised copper ore when he saw it. The pair quietly bought eighty acres at about a pound an acre - mineral rights included - and from 1844 the Kapunda mine became the first commercially successful metal mine in Australia, helping rescue the young colony's finances.

The mine worked until 1879, when falling copper prices finally closed it, yielding some 13,500 tonnes of copper along the way. What remains is surprisingly dramatic: water-filled open cuts in mineral-streaked rock, mounds of spoil, stone ruins and a tall chimney built in the Cornish style by the migrant miners who dominated the workforce.

A signposted interpretive trail loops through the site, and it forms the centrepiece of the broader 10-kilometre Kapunda Heritage Trail around town. Get the back-story at the Kapunda Museum first, or read our story on how copper built Kapunda.