Joint media release: World Heritage bid for historic South Australian Cornish mining sites

The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water
The Hon Susan Close MP, Deputy Premier, Minister for the Environment

The Albanese Government has today added the Australian Cornish Mining sites at Burra and Moonta to Australia’s UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

The two historic landscapes located in the Mid-North and Yorke Peninsula regions of South Australia offer outstanding universal value and are unparalleled in showing the first major transfer of Cornish hard-rock mining and Welsh smelting technology across the world in the 1840s.

The addition is supported by the South Australian Government, Regional Council of Goyder, Copper Coast Council and National Trust of South Australia to help ensure the protection and preservation of the mines and their distinctive high-pressure steam engine houses, which are recognised as icons of Cornish mining technology and industrial architecture.

Tentative Listing is the first step in the World Heritage nomination process, providing international recognition at the highest level.

The nominated sites join the Cultural Landscapes of Cape York Peninsula and Murujuga on Australia’s Tentative World Heritage List.

Australian places on the World Heritage List include Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Macquarie Island, the Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Naracoorte) in South Australia.

Quotes attributable to the Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek:

“The Australian Cornish Mining Sites of Burra and Moonta showcase our country’s industrial history. I want to see them added to the World Heritage List alongside our other precious places like the Great Barrier Reef, and the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Naracoorte) in South Australia.

“Burra and Moonta were at the forefront of deep mining practices, especially the creative application of steam power.

“A World Heritage listing would help preserve and protect these precious sites, to be enjoyed by our kids and grandkids.”

Quotes attributable to South Australian Minister for the Environment, Susan Close:

“I am delighted to see the iconic Australian Cornish Mining sites of Burra and Moonta getting the recognition they deserve, moving one step closer to securing UNESCO World Heritage status.

“As a result of these mines, Cornish culture, language and literature has remained throughout this region, and we are proud to preserve and protect Burra and Moonta, ‘Australia’s Little Cornwall’.

“We are pleased to be working with the Australian Government, the Regional Council of Goyder, the Copper Coast Council and the National Trust of South Australia, and in partnership with the Ngadjuri Nation Aboriginal Corporation and Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation to see this submission through.”