Burra Heritage Trail: Discover over 48 Historic Sites
Hey there, friend!
In this journal entry, I’ll be sharing our day trip to the historic mining town of Burra in South Australia, within the gorgeous Clare Valley region. We had heaps of fun exploring the small country town through their dog-friendly Burra Heritage Trail, and I’ll be going over some of the sights and attractions you can visit.
Before you read on
Are you travelling through the Clare Valley region? If so, you might like to read about the day trip we had where we visited Slate Restaurant and Neagles Rock Lookout Walk. Check it out here. If you’re into mining history, we also stayed at another historic mining town, Kapunda, where we walked an old mine site. Check that out here.
Explore Burra in the Clare Valley with me
If you’re travelling with your precious pooch like us, Burra is a great tourist town that’s very welcoming of dogs. The whole area is like a giant open-air museum where you can view an extensive collection of well-preserved historic buildings and mining sites that date back to early settlement years, 1840s onwards.
The collection gives a window to what life was like for the miners and their families back in those pioneering days. And honestly, we found that there were so many interesting sites to see throughout the township, you could easily spend a day or two driving & walking around.
Where is Burra & how to get there
From the city of Adelaide, Burra is approximately 163.5 kilometres north, roughly a 2-hour drive. If you’re staying in the town of Clare, it’s only half an hour’s drive east.
From Kapunda where we were based for the month, it was around an hour’s journey. We had a pleasant Sunday drive up on a winter’s day. Even though it was cold AF, the sun was out, the sky was clear, and the countryside was beautifully lush and green.
About Burra in South Australia
According to the tourist booklet we received, the first town in the area was established in 1846 by the mining company to accommodate workers and their families. Throughout the following years, small nearby settlements were also created. In 1940, the separate communities came together to officially form the town of Burra.
Burra is a relatively small township from what we saw, but there were a few pubs, cafes and retail shops available in the main precinct. If you love heritage buildings, you’ll love seeing the quaint buildings of Burra. The Market Square Museum is really sweet with its bright yellow colour. It was originally the shop and residence of a local tailor but has now been turned into a mini museum.
The small rural town is nestled in valley, surrounded by beautiful rolling hills. If you’re exploring the Monster Mine, there’s a town lookout point that offers a picturesque view of the town and encompassing land.
Cornish influences
At one point, Burra was the largest inland town in Australia, and home to the largest metal mine in the country, extracting copper ore. The mining site adopted the Cornish way of mining, employing a large number of Cornish men and boys to work at the mine, especially in positions of higher rank, and importing a lot of the mine’s equipment and machinery from Cornwall.
It’s funny because I came across a book at the Kapunda caravan park’s library called ‘The Girl from Penvarris’ which was about a girl from a mining family in Cornwall. In reading it, I recognised so many places in Burra and Kapunda as having been named after locations in Cornwall.
The best time to visit Burra
We visited Burra mid-winter in July, and as mentioned, we had a beautiful, clear sunny day with absolutely no signs of rain. That’s the thing with Aussie winters, at least from what I’ve experienced of South Australia and Western Australia; you still get days that like this! Mind you, the temperature felt arctic.
I would probably say that late summer, autumn, spring, or early winter months would provide more mild temperatures with fewer chances of rain. According to the National Trust website, late spring and early summer are the best time to see wildflowers in the area.
Burra Heritage Trail
burra dog-friendly attraction
The best way to explore the town of Burra and get to know its history is to do the Burra Heritage Trail. This is an 11-kilometre tourist drive that takes you through to the different parts of town that have a historical and cultural significance. The trail is marked by brown signs that have Route 16 on them, starting from the Burra & Goyder Visitor Information Centre at the heart of town.
There’s apparently over 46 historic sites along the trail! We saw a fair few things, but there were certainly a lot that we missed with only being there for a day.
Burra Heritage Passport Key
Along the self-drive tourist trail, there’s interesting sites that are locked and require a key (Heritage Passport) to access inside. I highly recommend purchasing a Heritage Passport Key because some of these attractions like the Miners Dugouts are really fascinating to walk through.
Locked Heritage Trail Sites
There are 11 locked sites, marked with a sign (usually a key symbol). Most of them were pretty interesting. I think the only one that was kind of so-so was the Smelts Paddock, which was a walk in an open field looking at indistinguishable piles of rubble.
- Monster Mine Site
- Morphett’s Engine House
- The Powder Magazine
- Redruth Gaol
- Unicorn Brewery Cellars
- Miners Dugouts
- Malowen Lowarth Cottage
- Police Lockup & Stables
- Hampton Village
- Smelts Paddock
- Market Square Museum.
Where to purchase a Heritage Passport Key
You can purchase a key from the Burra & Goyder Visitor Information Centre located on Market Square in Burra’s town centre. Their opening hours are Monday to Friday: 9am – 5pm and Saturday & Sunday: 10am – 4pm. To find out more about the Heritage Passport Key, please head onto the Visit Burra website.
Heritage Passport Key: Costs & Other Details
- It’s $30/adult (there’s discounts for seniors/concessions, national trust members and local residents).
- There is a $50 deposit for each key, which is refundable on return.
- You have a maximum of 2 days to keep and use the key.
- If you can’t return the keys to the Visitor Information Centre during opening hours, you can also take it to the local BP on Upper Thames St, which opens till 7pm daily. You’ll receive your refund in cash, whereas if you go to the Visitor Information Centre, they can return it to the card you used.
- The best thing: dogs are welcome to join you at all sites, even inside buildings!
- Along with the key, you receive a goodie bag that includes a comprehensive booklet detailing the 46 historic sites along the Burra Heritage Trail, a Burra township map, some tourism brochures for the area, and a discount to visit the Bon Accord Mine Museum.
Interesting sites on the Heritage Trail
Miners Dugouts
Heritage Passport key required
One of the more fascinating attractions of the trail, at least for me, was the Miners Dugouts. The rapid growth of the Burra Burra Mine led to housing shortages and people started living in caverns they excavated along the banks of the Burra Creek and tributaries. There were nearly 600 dugouts at one point and more than a third of the occupants were children under the age of 14.
Redruth Gaol
Heritage Passport key required
Redruth Gaol was the first gaol in South Australia built outside of Adelaide, erected in 1856. I think it’s quite an interesting one to wander around in as the building has had several uses in its time. There’s lots of rooms to investigate, their walls lined with information boards, giving you an insight on the history of the building as well as the life of its occupants.
It was fascinating to read that after the gaol closed and before it was repurposed to be a Girls Reformatory, a family moved into the building and made it their family home. There were two other families that moved in at different periods of time. It’s definitely intriguing to read the children’s recollection of living there. Can you imagine living in a building that was previously a gaol?!
As well as having been a gaol, girls reformatory and family home, the building was utilised at one stage as a social venue for dances, theatre plays and the like. Not to mention, it was a film location used for the movie Breaker Morant, released in 1980, a story set in South Africa.
It’s funny because I was saying to my hubby on our drive up to Burra, that the landscape was reminding me a lot of South Africa. Reading that tidbit proved that I wasn’t wrong to think so!
Hampton Township
Heritage Passport key required
Not too far from Redruth Gaol is the deserted township of Hampton. According to the information board at the entrance, it’s a very rare example of an abandoned 19th century township whose ruins and layout are still clearly visible. I enjoyed strolling through the quiet grounds, which is laid out in the style of an English village.
The tourist booklet mentioned that at the peak of the mining boom, the village consisted of up to 30 miner’s stone cottages, a chapel and successful quarry. There are signs at the front of each site to mark the families that occupied them.
Due to the decline and eventually the closure of the mine, the miners and their families started leaving the village. You’ll find that what is left are just ruins after being abandoned and falling into a state of disrepair. There is one house that’s still standing, surprisingly, and the last resident to have left the village was apparently in the 1960s. Very interesting!
Malowen Lowarth Cottage
Heritage Passport key required
This is an end cottage in the line of Paxton Square Cottages located on Kingston Street. I liked this particular site because you can go inside the cottage and see how it would’ve been furnished and decorated back in the 1860s. Malowen Lowarth Cottage was apparently a mine captain’s cottage.
My favourite was the kitchen! The way it was styled and set up just felt so cosy and warm, especially with the afternoon light trickling in. I’m also a sucker for vintage furniture and decor, it totally got me with the straw basket with herbs near the beautiful kitchen window. It was so nice.
Where to stay in Burra
Burra Dog-friendly caravan park
If you’re travelling with a dog in a caravan and looking to stop overnight or more, you could stay at the Burra Caravan Park. We walked past this caravan park while walking around the town. It’s located on the banks of the Burra Creek, on the side where the Paxton Square Cottages are. There is a bridge near the caravan park, if you want to cross the creek.
It’s worth noting that we stayed in Kapunda, so I can’t offer any personal opinions or experiences with it.
Where to eat in Burra
Burra Dog-friendly cafe
As mentioned, there’s a few pubs, cafes and a bakery in town. We decided to pop into St Just Cafe for a hot drink and a bite to eat. We ordered a toasted sandwich and croissant with some drinks, and it took forrreeeeever. Both also came out looking small and dismal, I couldn’t be bothered taking photos.
They’ve got a store next door, St Just Store, that’s filled to the brim with a variety of eclectic items, from homewares to clothing. It’s wortch checking out.
The bakery across the road looked quite popular, from memory, they had a lot of people coming and going while we ate at St Just Cafe.
And that’s a wrap!
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our visit to the sweet historic mining town of Burra through this journal entry, and it’s inspired you to consider it for your South Autralian travel itinerary. I highly recommend spending some time here, even if it’s just a day. It’s pretty cool that the town is so dog-friendly!
Have you been to any of these places before? Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments or pop in any questions you might have; I’d love to hear from you.
Safe travels and happy exploring! Thanks for joining me, hope to see you again!
Sheryl
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