Australian silver-lead ore mining birth-place

Glen Osmond became the birth-place of Australia’s mining history when two Cornish miners discovered silver-lead ore at Mt Osmond in 1841. Three mines were quickly established in the area: Wheal Gawler (1841), Glen Osmond Mines (1842) and Wheal Watkins (1843). Robert Watkins purchased the land for Wheal Watkins in 1842. Over its 10 years of intermittent operation between 1843 and 1916, Wheal Watkins yielded approximately 15,00 tons of ore.

Thanks to Mayor Monceaux and Meredith Ide from the Burnside Historical Society for providing us with a brief history of the mine. To discover more about the history of Burnside mines visit the Local History Corner at: http://bit.ly/MiningInBurnside Or go to: https://www.burnsidehistory.org.au/ to book a tour, or read more about history in Burnside.