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Teetulpa gold mine, Yunta.
Title : Teetulpa gold mine, Yunta. Teetulpa gold mine, Yunta.
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Source : B 42817/1
Date of creation : 1886
Format : Photograph
Dimensions : 104 x 453 mm
Contributor : State Library of South Australia
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Description :

Diggings at Teetulpa mine, Yunta.


The image depicts the sprawl of miners' tents across the goldfield.

Teetulpa is situated near Yunta, 90 kilometres north east of Peterborough, in the Flinders Ranges region of South Australia. In October 1886 Thomas Brady and Thomas Smith discovered gold there. A small goldrush followed. Not long after the discovery, 5,000 miners appeared on the goldfield. For the next ten years or so Teetulpa was the place to be, in terms of striking it lucky on the goldfield, and became known as a frontier goldmining town. Despite the extremely dry and harsh conditions, for a period in the late 1880s, the Teetulpa goldfield was reportedly the most profitable in the colony.

The Yunta area was also associated with the stock route between the New South Wales border at Cockburn (via the Mingary Reservoir, Mannahill and Yunta) and the original railhead at Terowie. Between 1885 and 1887, the Peterborough to Cockburn rail link was constructed. This followed the stock route, with Yunta acting as a railway service town. This rail link has now been replaced by the Barrier Highway to Broken Hill and the Indian-Pacific railway line. Today, Yunta has a population of about 70.

Subjects
Coverage year : 1886
Period : 1852-1883
Place : Teetulpa, Yunta
Region : Flinders Ranges and Far North - Outback
Further reading :

Annear, Robyn Nothing but Gold Melbourne : Text Publishing, 1999

Austin, JB The mines of South Australia : including also an account of the smelting works in that colony, together with a brief description of the country and incidents of travel in the bush Adelaide 1863

Blake, LJ Gold escort Melbourne : Hawthorn Press, 1971

Chilman, JK Silver and a trace of gold: a history of the Aclare mine Adelaide: South Australian Dept. of Mines and Energy, 1982.

Flett, J A pictorial history of the Victorian goldfields [Adelaide] : Rigby, [1977]

Gold escort re-enactment Adelaide : S.A. Police, Commonwealth Bank, 1986

Hocking, G Gold: a pictorial history of the Australian gold rush, Rowville, Vic: Five Mile Press, 2006, c2000

Kwan, Elizabeth. Living in South Australia: a social history, Netley, S. Aust.: South Australian Government Printer, 1987

Stone, DI Life on the Australian goldfields Carlton, Vic. ; [Sydney] : Methuen of Australia, [1976]

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