The Kapunda Mines Investigation(s)

We are very lucky to have a town in South Australia with a reputation for being one of the most haunted places in Australia, possibly the world - Kapunda, in the Mid-north.

One of the locations associated with the Kapuda haunting is The Old Kapunda Mines (you can read more about the history of the mines lower on this page).

Many ghost and cryptid stories are associated with the mines, some are far fetched, but others have basis in truth, of course, we try and dispel the more insane of local legends, but one cant dismiss so easily ghost stories that are based in factual events.

One story is of a small child who is seen to haunt one of the current open cut mines, which back in the day of which this young man died, would have been a very deep mine shaft. The stories about this boy can be corroborated with stories reported in local newspapers.

Another story is to do with children drowning in what was once the pump house, also a verified story, where the child's spirit is now seen near the old pump house station.

Other reports include people being slapped in the face, the sound of picks hitting stones, distant singing, people being touched and a report by another team of seeing a "Bunyip" type creature that allowed itself to be touched by them.

With all these stories, you can imagine the prospects of investigating the location, but, being an open cut mine, with many perils and pitfalls, this is an awkward and somewhat dangerous location to investigate.

On our numerous daylight and evening trips to the mines, we have not encountered anything as of yet we would say represent a haunting or paranormal phenomena, instead, what we have found so far is natural explanations for phenomena occurring there.

Johnsons Feed Mill is running day and night very noisily close by and also the Kapunda Quarry, both of these locations add to the sounds heard when one is down in the open cut mines, and can be associated with the sounds of explosions, picks and shovels and other noises being heard, including voices and singing.

We feel that most touching phenomena reported is usually put down to hyper-sensivity that people feel when entering a location they feel is haunted, therefore raising their "fight or flight" senses.

As for other phenomena, experiencers of said phenomena are hard to find and therefore difficult to assess, we are not saying that they are lying about their experiences in the mines, but until they can be interviewed, and their stories assessed one has lay the story aside unless the same phenomena occurs in ones own presence.

This however has not stopped us investigating by ourselves, with Adelaide Shadow Hunters or with teams and guests after SA Paranormal Meet-ups (one can enter the mines day or night, two "wheals" are open at all times, the major one is generally off limits without prior consent, which is easily obtainable)

The Kapunda Mines History

The Copper in the Kapunda Mines was first discovered by Francis Dutton in 1842. He began a partnership with Captain Bagot (Captain was a traditional Cornish term used for a manager) and together they purchased about 80 acres of land. They paid 1 pound per acre of land.

The pair set about taking samples from the numerous green rocks. The samples were then sent of to England for testing, this would take almost two years before results would return to Australia. Upon the results reaching Australia, the business partners were astonished to find the copper was 22.5 percent pure, which at the time was the richest deposit found anywhere in the world.

The mine began small with Bagot employing labourers to dig the copper off the surface with shovels and picks. In their first year alone they removed 600 tons or ore, valued at about 7000 pounds.

Around December 1844, Cornish miners began to arrive on-site, and tunnelling and underground mining began in earnest.

Francis Dutton decided to sell his 25% share in the mine in 1846, earning him the vast sum (at the time) of 16000 pounds, Captain Bagot now had the controlling 55% of ownership of the mine.

In its beginnings the mine would transport its ore via bullock dray to Port Adelaide, a journey of about 6 days, where it would be loaded onto ships and transported by vessels to Swansea in Wales, where it was smelted by the Welsh. Loads were sent at 2 tonnes per load, by 1850, the mine was producing 100 tones of copper ore per month.

In the coming years the mine would expand significantly, and so would the town. Many jobs were created, and it seemed in this era that certain cultural backgrounds provided expertise in differing areas, with Welsh men coming to South Australia to operate smelters, the Cornish, who were expert miners, and the Germans who began to cut down trees needed to power the furnaces of the smelters, who also began farms to feed the vast amount of workers. Then there were the Irish who began as labourers, and to drive the Bullock teams to Port Adelaide and the Chinese market gardeners who grew smaller amounts of tomatos and other green vegetables.

Kapunda never had one distinct mine instead there were at least five or six distinct copper lodes in close proximity, which were mined from as many as ten separate shafts over time: Wheal Bagot, Wheal Charlotte, Wheal Truscott, Wheal Lanyon, Wheal Harris, Wheal Major. There is no trace of any of them today, as they have all been obliterated by later workings of the mine (wheal being a Cornish mining term of phrase).

In 1849, Smelters made in Germany arrived in South Australia, reducing the need to ship ore overseas, however the ships now brought back Coal from England for the smelters.

In 1850, the mines had reached about 80 feet down and had started to go below the water table, a steam engine was brought in to pump the water out of the mine. At its deepest point the mine reached about 480 feet, or 150 metres.

By 1851, Kapunda had a population of over 2000 people

In 1852, the Goldrush in Victoria began, this had a huge effect on Kapunda and its surrounds. Many men left to try their luck at finding a quick fortune. For almost three years the production rate at Kapunda dropped to a minimal amount, however by 1857, production was at full speed again producing upwards of 4104 tonnes of ore.

The Kapunda mines importance declined with the discovery of copper at Burra, with a lode four times greater than Kapunda, but even Burra couldn’t compete with Moonta, which had a lode almost 4 times greater than Burra's!

By 1863 the majority of the high grade ore had been mined out, the mine was now a low grade ore mine – soon it became an opencut mine.

The mine closed in 1878 and all the equipment was sold. However, it did reopen again and continued until 1912 on a smaller scale. During this time 12,800 tonns or copper ore were mined.

Now, in 2016 the Copper mine stands as a tourist attraction at Kapunda's Southern End, dominated by the large stone chimney that was used to provide air for the engine boilers below. The mine is the favourite place of artists who love the deep green hues of the water that fills the open cut mine.

The mine has an appeal for Paranormal investigators in the area due to stories of a paranormal nature that have appeared on the internet and through the rumour of townsfolk. These include the sightings of a “hairy ape like man” thought to be the “Kapunda Bunyip”, to sightings of strange “lamp” lights near the mine, disembodied voices, people being “slapped” across the face and full bodied apparitions of miners, wearing clothes from a different era, in the surrounding area.

Whatever is happening within the mine, it still remains a place of historical significance and should be treated as such, this is also a terribly dangerous place to enter, with open mine shafts, large pieces of steel jutting out of rock formations and other unseen dangers, we do not recommend going into the mine at all to anyone as its pitfalls are numerous.

Time Line:

1842 Copper ore discovered

1844 Mine opened

1845 Horse whim installed

Mine Square Cottages built

1846 Dutton sold his share

Captain John Richards appointed

1848 Draft engine purchased

1849 Draft engine at work

Smelter built

1851 Buhl engine installed

Mine closed by Victorian gold rush

1855 Mine re-opened

1859 Captain Bagot retired

1860 Kapunda Mining Company formed in London

Subsidence in workings

Railway reached Kapunda

1861 Draft Engine re-located

1862 East Kapunda mines opened

1863 Mines operated at a loss

1865 Scottish company took over mines

1867 Henderson Plant in production

Captain Osborne appointed

Opencut extraction

1877 Crash in copper price

1879 Mines closed

1880 Hillside mine opened

1912 Tributers finished up

1938 Matthews Gravel Quarry on Block 19 opened

1949 Matthews Gravel Quarry on Block 19 closed

1962 Council acquired Block 24

1972 Council acquired Block 21

Plaque placed on smokestack

Charlotte opencut used as Council dump

1986 Jubilee 150 signage erected

1987 Site entered in SA Heritage Register

2008 Preparation of Conservation Management Plan for the site

Researched and Written

Allen Tiller