Blinman, South Australia
Encyclopedia
Blinman is a town deep in the Flinders Ranges
, in the mid north of South Australia
. It is very small but has the claim of being the highest surveyed town in South Australia. It serves as a base for large acre pastoralists and tourism. The town is just north of the Flinders Ranges National Park
, is 60 kilometres(km) north of Wilpena Pound
and 485 km north of Adelaide.
tribe, of Indigenous Australians
prior to Europeans. They were stone age
hunter-gatherers and inhabited much of the area (including Wilpena Pound to the south and other areas to the north). One of their unique customs was burn offs (controlled bushfires) to promote plant growth in the future seasons.
Station. This land was taken up for sheep farming in the 1850s. A shepherd employed by the station, Robert Blinman, discovered a copper outcrop on a hot December day in 1859. Blinman gambled some of his money on the presence of more underground copper and received a mineral application in 1860. On January 1 1861, Blinman and three friends, Alfred Frost, Joe Mole and Henry Alfred, received the lease for the land that became Blinman.
Mining was successful in the first year and the mine became known as Wheal Blinman. The original four leaseholders sold their mine in February 1862, for about 150 times the purchase price. The new owners were the Yudnamutana
Copper Mining Company of South Australia, who also owned a rich deposit north of Blinman. The mine was very successful during the 1860s and the site became permanent, with buildings being constructed and more miners moving to the area, some from the Burra
mine. The hardest problems at the time were the transport of Ore and the finding of water. Over the next 20 years, railways were developed and wells were sunk at regular intervals making life easier for all.
Family life was hard in the early days. Both water and firewood had to be brought from long
distances from the mine. This job was left to the women and their elder children while the men were working. Many pregnancies failed in the early years and there were several deaths reported from inflammation of the lungs. With the original tent settlement being very close to the mine, it was very hard to escape the fine dust generated. A hotel and post office were first opened in Blinman in 1863. In 1864, a government surveyor laid out 162 allotments about three km from the mine. This was named Blinman. The population was about 1,500 by 1868 and the first school opened that year. Decent shops in the main street developed in 1869. The striking of regular water in the mine the same year secured a regular water supply for the town.
Mining continued until 1918 when the ore ran out. The busiest time for the mine was 1913-1918 with a town population of 2,000. The total ore removed was about 10,000 tonnes.
. The copper mine at one end of the town is another attraction.
The town itself boasts a pub, general store
, a church and a cafe/gallery. There are tennis court
s, a golf course
and a cricket pitch
, though they see sporadic use. Fuel is NOT available.
The two most popular events in the town are a Land Rover
jamboree held over the Easter
long weekend and Cook Out Back. Notice that both events are held during the Australian winter because of the searing heat during summer.
This event is a meeting of Land Rover enthusiasts from around Australia. There are competitions, tag-a-long tours and parties. Competitions include non timed trial course and 'Best of Breed' car judging.
competition held over the October long weekend (Labour Day
) in the town. One meal is a roast
prepared using a camp oven
on a bed of coals. This annual event attracts over 500 people to the town, who can be found camping throughout the area. It attracts many people from Adelaide, South Australia and is the biggest event on the town's calendar, bringing in much-needed tourist
money to the area. Each team's cooking is usually judged by a group of local celebrities and there is $3000 prize for the winning team. This event is run by the Blinman Hotel.
. It is part of the Stuart state electoral district
and the state
representative is Graham Gunn
. The national representative
is Rowan Ramsey
who is elected to the Grey federal electorate
.
Flinders Ranges
Flinders Ranges is the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts approximately north west of Adelaide. The discontinuous ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna...
, in the mid north of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. It is very small but has the claim of being the highest surveyed town in South Australia. It serves as a base for large acre pastoralists and tourism. The town is just north of the Flinders Ranges National Park
Flinders Ranges National Park
The Flinders Ranges National Park is situated approximately 400 km north of Adelaide in the northern central part of South Australia's largest mountain range, the Flinders Ranges. The park covers an area of 912 km², northeast of the small town of Hawker...
, is 60 kilometres(km) north of Wilpena Pound
Wilpena Pound
Wilpena Pound is a natural amphitheatre of mountains located north of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia in the heart of the Flinders Ranges National Park. The Pound is the most northern point with access via a sealed road in this part of the Flinders Ranges...
and 485 km north of Adelaide.
Indigenous People
This land belonged to the AdnyamathanhaAdnyamathanha
The Adnyamathanha or Adynyamathanha are an Indigenous Australian people from the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Adnyamathanha is also the name of their traditional language....
tribe, of Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
prior to Europeans. They were stone age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
hunter-gatherers and inhabited much of the area (including Wilpena Pound to the south and other areas to the north). One of their unique customs was burn offs (controlled bushfires) to promote plant growth in the future seasons.
European Settlement
The first European settlement around the current Blinman, was firstly of AngorichinaAngorichina
Angorichina Station is located in the Flinders Ranges, near Blinman.It was first established in the mid 19th century. In 1859, it was a shepherd on Angorichina Station who first discovered the copper and took out a mining lease which later became the Blinman mine.The station continues to run sheep...
Station. This land was taken up for sheep farming in the 1850s. A shepherd employed by the station, Robert Blinman, discovered a copper outcrop on a hot December day in 1859. Blinman gambled some of his money on the presence of more underground copper and received a mineral application in 1860. On January 1 1861, Blinman and three friends, Alfred Frost, Joe Mole and Henry Alfred, received the lease for the land that became Blinman.
Mining was successful in the first year and the mine became known as Wheal Blinman. The original four leaseholders sold their mine in February 1862, for about 150 times the purchase price. The new owners were the Yudnamutana
Yudnamutana, South Australia
Yudnamutana is an historic mining valley in the Northern Flinders Ranges, North West of Arkaroola on the edge of the wilderness sanctuary. It is accessible by four-wheel drive from the south. Ancient mining sites give the opportunity for ecologically responsible bush camping, but no supplies are...
Copper Mining Company of South Australia, who also owned a rich deposit north of Blinman. The mine was very successful during the 1860s and the site became permanent, with buildings being constructed and more miners moving to the area, some from the Burra
Burra, South Australia
Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of South Australia. It lies east of the Clare Valley in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, and on Burra Creek. The town began as a single company mining township that, by 1851, was a set of townships ...
mine. The hardest problems at the time were the transport of Ore and the finding of water. Over the next 20 years, railways were developed and wells were sunk at regular intervals making life easier for all.
Family life was hard in the early days. Both water and firewood had to be brought from long
distances from the mine. This job was left to the women and their elder children while the men were working. Many pregnancies failed in the early years and there were several deaths reported from inflammation of the lungs. With the original tent settlement being very close to the mine, it was very hard to escape the fine dust generated. A hotel and post office were first opened in Blinman in 1863. In 1864, a government surveyor laid out 162 allotments about three km from the mine. This was named Blinman. The population was about 1,500 by 1868 and the first school opened that year. Decent shops in the main street developed in 1869. The striking of regular water in the mine the same year secured a regular water supply for the town.
Mining continued until 1918 when the ore ran out. The busiest time for the mine was 1913-1918 with a town population of 2,000. The total ore removed was about 10,000 tonnes.
Attractions
Tourists travel to this area to enjoy the Outback of South Australia and to see the ancient geology of the area. The town is close to Brachina Gorge and Parachilna Gorge. These two rarely have flowing water in them. Also nearby are the Blinman Pools. The town is a stop off on the way to ArkaroolaArkaroola, South Australia
Arkaroola Village is the settlement and resort at the hub of a wilderness sanctuary in the Northern Flinders Ranges in South Australia, adjacent to Gammon Ranges National Park and the Mawson Plateau....
. The copper mine at one end of the town is another attraction.
The town itself boasts a pub, general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
, a church and a cafe/gallery. There are tennis court
Tennis court
A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...
s, a golf course
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and a cricket pitch
Cricket pitch
In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets - 1 chain or 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the...
, though they see sporadic use. Fuel is NOT available.
The two most popular events in the town are a Land Rover
Land Rover
Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover group...
jamboree held over the Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
long weekend and Cook Out Back. Notice that both events are held during the Australian winter because of the searing heat during summer.
Land Rover Jamboree
Cook Out Back
Cook Out Back is a relaxed campfire cookingCooking on a campfire
Outdoor cooking differs substantially from kitchen-based cooking, the most obvious difference being lack of an easily defined kitchen area. As a result, campers and backpackers have developed a significant body of techniques and specialized equipment for preparing food in outdoors environments...
competition held over the October long weekend (Labour Day
Labour Day
Labour Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for...
) in the town. One meal is a roast
Roasting
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat, whether an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting usually causes caramelization or Maillard browning of the surface of the food, which is considered by some as a flavor enhancement. Roasting uses more indirect, diffused heat , and is...
prepared using a camp oven
Dutch oven
A Dutch oven is a thick-walled cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. Dutch ovens have been used as cooking vessels for hundreds of years....
on a bed of coals. This annual event attracts over 500 people to the town, who can be found camping throughout the area. It attracts many people from Adelaide, South Australia and is the biggest event on the town's calendar, bringing in much-needed tourist
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
money to the area. Each team's cooking is usually judged by a group of local celebrities and there is $3000 prize for the winning team. This event is run by the Blinman Hotel.
Politics
This town, like many remote towns in South Australia is not part of a Local Government Area but is affiliated with the Outback Areas Community Development TrustOutback Areas Community Development Trust
The Outback Areas Community Development Trust is a trust in South Australia which is operated under the Outback Areas Community Development Trust Act...
. It is part of the Stuart state electoral district
Electoral district of Stuart
Stuart is an electorate for the South Australian House of Assembly. It covers the northeast part of the state extending from just north of the Barossa Valley all the way to the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales borders, and extending west to include Port Augusta...
and the state
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...
representative is Graham Gunn
Graham Gunn
Graham McDonald Gunn, AM , Australian politician, was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly. He represented the electoral district of Stuart and was a member of the Liberal Party of Australia...
. The national representative
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
is Rowan Ramsey
Rowan Ramsey
Rowan Eric Ramsey is the Liberal Party of Australia representative for the electoral division of Grey, which covers the vast geographical majority of South Australia, succeeding prior Liberal MP Barry Wakelin as of the 2007 federal election.-External links:**...
who is elected to the Grey federal electorate
Division of Grey
The Division of Grey is an Australian Electoral Division in South Australia.The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir George Grey, who was Governor of South Australia 1841-45 ....
.
In popular culture
- In the 2011 novel Angorichina, the character of Heath Denbow came from, and was buried at, Blinman.