Bruce Levick

Burra and Beyond

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 (see gallery). 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.