Kapunda's Railway - Part 1:" Washed Away At Fords"

Kapunda's Railway 
Part 1"Washed Away At Ford's"

by

Allen Tiller

Kapunda Railway Station circa 1900

Some things get forgotten with the passing of time. It has been many years since Kapunda last saw a train stop at its station, and many more years have passed since a steam train has entered the town!

Photo by Allen Tiller

 The once bustling train station is now a Bed and Breakfast, and the old Goods Shed is a crumbling piece of Kapunda's heritage going to waste.
 The Old Railway Hotel is now a private home. The old water filler, a long forgotten rusty relic, and the train line through the town, a piece of unused land that could be better suited to something more modern like a bike track. But I digress, this blog isn't about the now, it is about the history that surrounds one of the most important train lines and destinations in South Australia's railway history - The Kapunda Railway.

 I am going to start this series with the story of an accident near the settlement at Ford's. A long-forgotten story, but an important part of the history of this town. Also, I see this as a way to honour the men and women who spent their working lives, and some of their deaths, building this great town through their hard work on our railways. - Allen Tiller

In 1914, on Thursday the 13^th of February, after a huge storm blew through the Light region, a goods train coming from Gawler to Kapunda came off the tracks near Ford's (just south of Kapunda).
The storm washed away the railway lines near the 42J miles marker. The engineer driving the train tried to stop the train but was too late.

The accident was witnessed by Mr Clancy and Mr Moore of Fords. The two men were out testing the line after the torrential downpour and had reached the eastern side of where the water had been pouring over the line.
The two men, standing on the line, were pitched into knee-deep water when the railway line gave way under the pressure of the torrent. As the two men recovered their footings and scrambled back onto the tracks, the goods train rounded the corner on the other side of the broken line from where the men were standing. Before either could raise a warning signal, the train plummeted off the line into the nearby creek, landing on its side.
Clancy and Moore watched as the driver Mr W. Critchley and the Fireman Mr A.H. Whaites climbed out of the engine and onto the side of the tipped-over train.
 As the two men made their way over the locomotive, the water gushed and sent Mr Critchley into the seething torrent, where he has washed away with the current.

A message was telegraphed to the Kapunda Station and a rescue party, including Dr Glynn, Station Master Mr A.S. Leach and Inspectors Gordon and Johnson were dispatched to head out to the train wreck.
The site was inspected by the light of the setting moon, but the reality of the disaster could not be fully comprehended until the light of the next day.
The engine was laying on its side in the now naturally flowing creek bed, awash with slime and mud. Behind it lay carriages piled up on top of each other, all fully loaded with cargo, axles twisted and the wheels at right angles.
One wagon measuring at 22 feet long was standing straight in the air, supported by another 16-foot long carriage laying in a similar position. Both wagons being supported by the water-wagon of the locomotive. Only the last 5 wagons and the guard's carriage remained intact upon the line.

 What caused such a massive pile up?
 The location where this accident happened was not considered to be dangerous at the time. The sudden and extremely hard downpour of rain overfilled the small creek culvert on which the train tracks lay.
 The culvert could not take the extreme amounts of water being forced into it and caused a backwash of water to be accumulated, the water level rose until it washed over the lines.
 The track was built on a bank that sat between 6 feet and 8 feet high, with the culvert running underneath, with the water pressure cascading across the line, much of the supporting ballast had been washed away. And as the train hit the weakened structure, it gave away, plunging the train into the cold currents of the creek.

 The guard who was in the last carriage of the train suffered no injuries and began walking back to Freeling to alert them of the accident before the passenger train made its way down the line. His efforts were not needed, as the storm had caused problems with lines in Smithfield and Gawler, as well causing the passenger train to be delayed significantly

Fireman Whaites was interviewed by officials and his story is as follows;

“The train left Freeling soon after 6 o'clock, not far from the station we ran through a body of water safely, when we soon passed the second body of water, we kept a lookout, but did not think it necessary to stop altogether.
Suddenly we felt the engine going and with only the width of the embankment we knew there was little hope, and in seconds we were in the water.
When she rested on her side I climbed out, and my mate followed me. The water was to my waste and when I got my footing I looked around for the driver to see if he was right.
As he got out he seemed to sink on his knees, and before it was possible to do anything the water carried him away.
One good Samaritan gave me a pair of dungarees and another coat, and I feel pretty right now, although it was a bad experience”.

As for the driver, Mr Critchley, a search was carried out to find him. His water bag and tool box were found a quarter of a mile down the creek. Mr Critchley's body was found about seven miles further down the stream, hanging to a tree in the middle of the creek, his body was badly bruised and it was most probable that he died of hypothermia.  


Continued next week...

Some images on this blog are borrowed from the State Library Of South Australia: http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/prg/327/25/PRG327_25_3A_7.htm

 There is currently no copyright laws attributed to these images

Researched and Written by Allen Tiller © 2012 

That Kapunda Crown

Whilst conducting research for an investigation for another of our passions, Eidolon Paranormal; Karen and I stumbled across this piece of Kapunda's forgotten history.

  We printed what we had found and put it on the notice board in the front bar of the Clare Castle Hotel, hoping someone would come forward with some information. Unfortunately, not even the longtime regular's had seen the image before! 

We had another mystery to be solved in Kapunda!

Below is what we posted on the notice board in the Hotel:

"Kapunda Revelation"

"After many layers of paper in the quaint Clare Castle Hotel at the Adelaide end of Kapunda had been removed, this design, measuring three feet, was found painted on the wall above the mantelpiece in the front room: it is in gold, green and black."


Later, we were researching for another Kapunda location and stumbled across the answer to the mystery of the Kapunda crown. 

 The mystery of The Kapunda Crown was solved by this article, written in The Advertiser in 1954.

That Kapunda Crown

With commendable promptitude, Mrs E. O'Neill, president of Glenelg Sunshine Club has explained from 'Carmel,' 3 College street, Glenelg. the origin of the Crown at the Clare Castle Hotel. Kapunda

'The picture in your column took my mind back to my childhood watching my father, the late Edward (Ned) Murphy drawing that crown. He was the licensee.

'I do not remember why, as I was only six. Father had a peculiar trait to paint and draw things like this. 'He was a very intelligent man; when he died 21 years ago. at 86. he had retained his remarkable mentality.

Did Other Drawings

'First, he was the licensee of the North Kapunda hotel for three years, during which time he was a councillor. Sir Sidney Kidman and Mr Charlie Coles were personal friends of his.

'When Queen Victoria died my parents draped the front of the Clare Castle in black. Father drew and painted a life-size picture of Queen Victoria for the centre.

'About this time, 1901. he drew the crown. I remember his doing the heart and saying to us children. 'The Throne and the Queen are the heart of the Empire.'

Many other hotels bear some drawing or inscription done by dad at Robe, on the window of a temperance hotel is something he did with a diamond ring.

'I, unfortunately, burnt the only photo of the Clare Castle after father's death.

'I enclose one of the North Kapunda, taken about 1898. My father is the young man in shirt sleeves. Mother is standing by myself, a little tot looking through the balcony bars. One of the maids holds my baby brother, later an original Anzac.'

Kept City Hotels

Mrs O'Neill says her father (Edward Murphy) and mother had many guests at their Adelaide hotels. Most famous was Madame Sarah Bernhardt at the Metropolitan in Grote Street.

Mr C. C. Kingston, who lived farther west on the West terrace corner, wanted her father to buy half of Kingston Park, Marino, for £10.

'My grandparents were among the first Port Adelaide hotelkeepers. Migrants stayed there until they got work or land,' she adds.

Researched and written by Allen and Karen Tiller © 2012

Kapunda Locations: Copper Mines

The Kapunda Mines

By

Allen Tiller

The copper in the Kapunda Mine was first discovered by Francis Dutton in 1842. He began a partnership with Captain Bagot, (Captain was a traditional Cornish term used for a
manager) together they purchased 80 acres of land. They paid 1 pound per acre of land.

The pair set about taking samples from the numerous green rocks. The samples were then sent off to England for testing. Testing would take almost two years before the results would return to Australia. Upon the results reaching Australia, the business partners were astonished to find the copper was 22.5% pure, which at the time was the richest deposit found anywhere in the world.

Clare Castle Hotel bottom left corner circa 1860

The mine was small when it began, with Bagot employing labourers to dig the copper from the surface with shovels and picks. In the first year, workers removed 600 tons of ore, valued at about 7000 pounds.

In approximately December 1844, Cornish miners began to arrive on-site and tunnelled underground. This is when copper mining began in earnest.

Francis Dutton decided to sell his 25% share in the mine in 1846, earning him the vast sum (at the time) of 16000 pounds, Captain Bagot now had the controlling 55% of the ownership of the mine.

The mine owners used bullock dray to transport copper ore to Port Adelaide, a journey of about 6 days. The ore would be loaded onto ships and transported by sea to Swansea in Wales, where it was smelted by the Welsh. Loads were sent at 2 tonnes per load. By 1850, the mine was producing 100 tones of copper ore per month.

In the coming years the mine would expand significantly, and along with it, the town. Many jobs were created, and it seemed in this era that certain cultural backgrounds provided expertise in differing areas, with Welsh men coming to Kapunda as skilled smelters, the Cornish, as expert miners, and the Germans as labourers, who began to cut down trees needed to power the furnaces of the smelters. Germans and Chinese labourers also ran local farms and market gardens, which fed the vast amount of workers, and the growing population in the district. Another nationality group were the Irish, who began as labourers and became the drivers of the Bullock teams to Port Adelaide.

Kapunda never had one distinct mine, instead, there were at least five or six

distinct copper lodes in close proximity, which were mined from as many as ten

separate shafts over time:
Wheal Bagot,
Wheal Charlotte,
Wheal Truscott,

Wheal Lanyon, 
Wheal Harris, 
Wheal Major. 

There is no trace of any of them today, as they have all been obliterated by the later workings of the mine ("wheal" being a Cornish mining term of phrase).

In 1849, smelters made in Germany arrived in South Australia, reducing the need to ship ore overseas. However, the ships now brought back coal from England for the smelters.

By 1851, Kapunda had a population of over 2000 people and began to set out its main street, and suburbs.

In 1850, the mines had reached approximately 80 feet below the surface and had started to go below the water table. A steam engine was brought in to pump the water out of the mine. At its deepest point, the mine reached about 480 feet or 150 metres.

In 1852, the Goldrush in Victoria began. This had a huge effect on Kapunda and its surrounds, many men left to try their luck at finding a quick fortune. For almost three years the production rate at Kapunda dropped to a minimal amount. However, by 1857, production was at full speed again producing upwards of 4104 tonnes of ore

A sign in the Bagot mining Museum in Kapunda states that in 1861 the mine employed;

43 miners - mostly Cornish

106 pitmen

23 children - mostly Cornish

82 labourers - mainly Irish

13 boys - mainly Irish

36 smelters and furnacemen - mainly Welsh

The mine at this time was employing 302 men and 36 boys.

2nd draft house engine room

The Kapunda mine importance declined with the discovery of copper at Burra. With a lode four times greater than Kapunda, but even Burra couldn’t compete with Moonta, which had a lode almost 4 times greater than Burra's!

By 1863, the majority of the high-grade ore had been mined out. The mine was now a low-grade ore mine – soon it became an opencut mine.

The mine closed in 1878 and all the equipment was sold

However, the mine reopened again and continued until 1912 on a smaller scale. During this time 12,800 tonnes of copper ore were mined

Now, in 2012 the Copper mine stands as a tourist attraction at Kapunda's southern end, with the skyline dominated by the large stone chimney that was used to provide air for the engine boilers below. The mine is the favourite place of artists who love the deep green hues of the water that fills the open cut mine.

looking into one of the open shafts 2010

The mine has an appeal for Paranormal investigators in the area due to stories of a paranormal nature that have appeared on the internet and through the rumour of townsfolk. These include the sightings of a “hairy ape-like man” thought to be the “Kapunda Yeti”, to sightings of strange “lamp” lights near the mine, disembodied voices, people being “slapped” across the face and full-bodied apparitions of miners, wearing clothes from a different era.

Eidolon Paranormal's research has uncovered a few deaths involving miners. Events such as miners losing limbs, a boy almost drowning in a wastewater tank, and onsite amputations by Dr Clindening and Dr Blood. Could these events have scarred the interior of the mines with emotions that resonate today? Or is it people reaching a state of hypersensitivity due to the scary, desolate feeling of the mine interior, and thus scaring themselves into believing a ghost is present?

Whatever is happening within the mine, it still remains a place of historical significance and should be treated as such. This is also a terribly dangerous place to enter, with open mine shafts, large pieces of steel jutting out from rock formations and other unseen dangers. I do not recommend going into the mine at all, as its pitfalls are numerous.
 Stay within the marked walking areas, and you should be safe!

Time Line:

1842 Copper ore discovered

1844 Mine opened

1845 Horse whim installed

Mine Square Cottages built

1846 Dutton sold his share

Captain John Richards appointed

1848 Draft engine purchased

1849 Draft engine at work

Smelter built

1851 Buhl engine installed

The mine closed by the Victorian gold rush

1855 Mine re-opened

1859 Captain Bagot retired

1860 Kapunda Mining Company formed in London

Subsidence in workings

Railway reached Kapunda

1861 Draft Engine re-located

1862 East Kapunda mines opened

1863 Mines operated at a loss

1865 Scottish company took over mines

1867 Henderson Plant in production

Captain Osborne appointed

Opencut extraction

1877 Crash in copper price

1879 Mines closed

1880 Hillside mine opened

1912 Tributers finished up

1938 Matthews Gravel Quarry on Block 19 opened

1949 Matthews Gravel Quarry on Block 19 closed

1962 Council acquired Block 24

1972 Council acquired Block 21

Plaque placed on smokestack

Charlotte opencut used as Council dump

1986 Jubilee 150 signage erected

1987 Site entered in SA Heritage Register

2008 Preparation of Conservation Management Plan for the site

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2012

Kapunda Biographies: Ellen Benham

Ellen Ida Benham

On March 12th 1871, just outside Kapunda, in the town of Allen's Creek, was born Ellen Ida Benham. The third of eleven children born to Aimie and William Huggins Benham.
 Ellens father was a solicitor and could afford a better than average education for his children. Ellen was sent to Kapunda Model School for her education, and later to The Adelaide Advanced School For Girls, where she was under the tutelage of the headmistress, Rees George.
 Ellen then went on to study at The University of Adelaide in 1889 and graduated with a B.Sc in 1892. Ellen returned to Kapunda to teach, as headmistress for the Anglican Christ Church Parish for two years, before moving to Europe in 1895 to continue her studies.

Upon her return, Ellen taught science at the Dryburgh House School from 1896 through until 1900, then at Tormore House School in North Adelaide
 In 1901 Ellen was approached by the University Of Adelaide's Professor Ralph Tate, to take over his botany lectures as he was unwell, later that same year he died. Ellen held the position of lecturer at the University from 1902 until 1911. She also, at times, held the roles of “Head Of Department”, “Sole Lecturer” and “Keeper Of the Herbarium”.
Ellen visited England in 1908 to attend Oxford and complete a Diploma of Education, returning the following year to Adelaide to continue at the University.



In 1906, The South Australian government appointed her to reorganise the botany curriculum and to classify a major collection of flora and fauna presented to the Herbarium

In 1912, Ellen bought Walford School in Malvern and turned it into one of the most successful schools in the state. The school thrived under her leadership and became known as the Walford Church Of England Girls Grammar School.
 Ellen's aim was to educate girls to “become a useful and effective woman in whatever position she may have to fill”.   Ellen achieved this by offering a well-balanced education that included hockey, tennis and cricket matches for the girls. She also incorporated a 'prefect' system, and a willingness to communicate with parents of children about how to effectively teach each child using; “the right adjustment of work to the physical and mental powers of the children”.
Ellen also gave the school it's motto “Virtute et Veritate.” - “With Truth And Courage”



Ellens achievements were vast. She helped to found “The Women's Student Club” and the “The Women's Graduate Club”, being the first recognised female academic in South Australia and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree.
 Ellen Benham has been honoured by Adelaide University with the naming of the “Benham Building” which houses the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and with the Benham Lecture Theatre.
Ellen is also honoured at the Walford Church of England Girls' Grammar School with the “Benham Wing”

Benham Building, University of Adelaide

Miss Ellen Benham died on April 27th 1917, of a hepatic abscess (an abdominal infection caused by appendicitis) in Adelaide and was interred in Christ Church Cemetery Kapunda.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2012.

Happy Birthday Karen

Happy Birthday to our own intrepid reporter and photographer

Karen Paynter!

Kapunda Biographies: John Hill

Kapunda, A town of mystery, a town of history and a town with a past like no other. Today I am starting a new edition to the blog, highlighting some of the people who lived, worked, played, loved and built the town.

Some of the ladies and gentlemen I will profile over coming months have long left. Others are living in the town today, you may have passed them in the street and not known what achievements they had accomplished, right here in Kapunda. With this blog, I aim to change that!

To get started, I am going to profile a gentleman who passed away long ago. A man who crossed the sea to play an important role in South Australia's history, and who would eventually call Kapunda home, and be buried in the Clare Road Methodist Cemetery.

John Hill 

Mr John Hill served as boatswain (The Foreman of the “unlicensed” crew) in His Majesty, King William's ship, The Buffalo. [1]

John Hill was born on the 3rd of June 1808 in Cheshurst, Hertfordshire, England. Mr Hill was a skilled thatcher before serving his King in the English Navy.

John Hill's most notable mark in South Australian history, other than coming to our fine shores aboard the Buffalo, was under the soon to be Governor of South Australia, Captain John Hindmarsh.

As the proclamation, declaring South Australia a British colony was read aloud to the gathered sailors and dignitaries, John Hill raised the British Flag, thus marking his place in South Australian history for all time. He was aged 29 at the time.

Mr Hill was soon engaged in the colony to undertake his regular occupation, thatching rooves for the newly colonised State. The only skilled roof thatcher available, he was very busy and was summoned to thatch the roof of the Governor's house.


Mr Hill died at the age of 77, on the 2nd of April 1885, and was interred in The Clare Road Cemetery.



Mr Hill's wife and family were very proud of the fact that their husband and father hoisted the flag on proclamation day and marked the significance upon his tombstone.

His grave also features a very distinct and different marking. It features as the centrepiece the “British Standard” with Gum tree carved into Headstone.

Mr Hills obituary appears in the South Australian Register on page 2, April 11th 1885 and reads:

Deaths of Pioneers.— Our Kapunda correspondent mentions that bluff, hearty old John Hill the boatswain of the Buffalo, who hoisted the flag at Glenelg when the colony was proclaimed, died on Thursday evening, after an illness of four months. He was 77 years of age, and during his life enjoyed the very best of health until recently, when he was attacked by bronchitis. During his illness, he suffered a great deal. He leaves  a widow, who is somewhat older than himself 

Researched and Written

By

Allen Tiller

for

Kapunda Community Link

[1] The “Buffalo” was originally named “The Hindostand” in 1813 when it was built it was sold in that same year to the United Kingdom Navy and renamed “The Buffalo” where it began to ship mast timbers across the globe. It eventually was used to ship English female prisoners to Sydney (187) then travelled to South Africa. The ship was recommissioned in 1835 where it was fitted to house emigrants for transport to Australian Colonies.

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