Kapunda - Australia's Oldest Mining Town
Discovered in 1842, Kapunda can be considered the birthplace of Australia's commercial mining history. It is also the oldest mining town in Australia. The Kapunda copper mine was operational from 1844 to 1878, being the first metal mine in Australia to achieve such success. It produced over £1 million ($1.7 million AUD) worth of ore from the 340 employed workers.
In 1986 local resident John Davidson suggested that a memorial be built to commemorate the influence that the Cornish miners had on Kapunda's (and South Australia's) development. The work of a local Dutch artist by the name of Ben van Zetten was recruited, who agreed to design and build the work. Construction began in early 1988 and was officially opened on 5th June of the same year.
The statue took three months to build and was opened during Australia's Bicentenary celebrations by the South Australian Minister for Mines and Energy, Ron Payne. The ceremony included a speech by the Cornish Association's Ron Daw, and Trelawny was played while participants "partied on saffron cake and clotted cream".
The original statue stood until 1 June 2006, when it was destroyed. A local teenager poured Eranol around the statue, splashing some of the accelerant on the statue's right leg. Although his intent was to take a photo of the statue surrounded by a "ring of fire", and he did not intend to cause significant harm to the work, the resulting fire caused A$95,000 worth of damage and the statue had to be demolished.
Fortunately the statue was insured for A$140,000, and the original artist Ben van Zetten with help from artist Lawry Love Grima, agreed to rebuild the work. The new statue was rededicated on the site of the old on 3 June 2007, just over a year after the original was destroyed.
Map is also regarded as one of Australia's 'Big Things', standing at a height of 23ft (7m) tall!
Logging requirements:
To claim this virtual cache as found, you must visit 'Map the Miner' in person and take a photo holding a map in front of Map. Any map such as your GPS, phone maps or a paper map are accepted.
Happy caching!
FTF: Mattycat & Purrfect Di
STF: 900 BLACK, team gwynne & ekans
TTF: JDHZ
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Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.