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Wallaroo & Moonta Mines And Wallaroo Smelting Works Album [Yorke Peninsula, South Australia]

1904. Thirty-four (of 35) printout paper photographs in a leather-bound album with gilt title and edges, date “Nov. 1904” on album cover, each photograph captioned in ink on backing below image, 10 x 15cm to 14.3 x 19.8cm. Minor scuffing to album covers, page 3 missing, all images laid down on album page backing.

To commemorate his 1904 visit, the Governor of South Australia, Sir George Le Hunte was presented with a similar photograph album containing 35 views of “places of interest throughout the Wallaroo district.” Views include power plants, machinery and smelting works at the Wallaroo and Moonta Mines locations, the visit of His Excellency Sir George Le Hunte to “Wallaroo Mines Institute, His Excellency re-passing under the welcome arch and leaving the building, 1904”, and local landmarks in the townships of Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta.

“Copper was discovered at Wallaroo in December 1859 and Moonta in May 1861...The Wallaroo Mining Company began operations in 1860 and the Moonta Mining Company in 1862; the two companies amalgamated in 1889 as copper prices fell so better use could be made of resources. After WWI world copper prices fell and the company’s prosperity declined. The workers at Wallaroo and Moonta refused drastic cuts in their wages and in 1923 the company went into voluntary liquidation.” Ref: NLA; The Register, 12.11.1904.

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Item #CL194-92

Price (AUD): $16,500.00  other currencies