Burra and Beyond

February 20, 2012 By Bruce With 1 Comment

In Australia / Travel

Burra, a town built on the copper explosion around 1849. The more of these historical towns I see the more I fall in love with the history of Australia. During its peak period in the 1850s, Burra had a population of around 5000 people. They came from far and wide and even from overseas to work on the biggest copper mine in the world. The town could not cope with the population explosion so residents dug homes out of the side of Burra Creek. It wasn’t long before disease started working its way through the population, forcing residents from the creek and into a built residence.
Some of the mine has been restored but the majority has been destroyed due to recent open cut mining, which is a real shame as the museums show the historic mine in it’s hey day and it would be amazing to have seen it fully restored. There is still plenty of the historic mine to experience all around this beautiful historic town.

A pair of immature Collared Sparrow-hawks almost stole the show from Burra. I happened to be free camping just south of Burra and the first thing I noticed when I arrived were the distinct sounds of a raptors communicating within the wooded area I was situated in. I soon noticed two youngsters darting and dogfighting through the trees. It was hard to distinguish what these youngsters were but I soon discovered they were immature Collared Sparrow-hawks. I also discovered the nest high up in a nearby tree and soon realised that these two youngsters had literally only just left the nest and almost appeared to be fighting over territory. Sometimes engaging in aerial fights. Next to impossible to capture that on camera I’m sorry.