Moonta Attractions | Near By Delights | Local History
Apart from enjoying the sheer opulence of Amelia’s Bed and Breakfast,
there’s a mother lode of interesting things to do in this historic seaside mining town.
Visitors to Moonta love:
- Enjoying pristine beaches with swimming and great fishing.
- Exploring crystal-clear rookpools.
- Walking the long jetty, especially at sunset.
- Enjoying one of Amelia's delicious platters on the beach.
- Grabbing the Discovering Historic Moonta guidebook from the old railway station and driving the 16 kilometre Heritage Trail.
- Donning a miner’s hat and boots for an underground tour of the cathedral-like Wheal Hughes Copper Mine.
- Taking the 50-minute narrow gauge railway tour of the old Moonta copper mines.
- Learning about the town’s early days at Moonta Mines Museum in a school built in 1878.
- Raiding the yummy Moonta Mines old-style sweet shop.
- Experiencing a restored 1870s miner’s cottage.
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Moonta, a great place to escape the city rat race, is the gateway
to numerous seaside gems including great charter fishing.
5 mins from the Greg Norman designed 'The Dunes' Golf Course
And it’s within easy reach of the famous Clare Valley and Barrossa Valley
wine regions.
Here’s more detail about Moonta:
- Moonta forms the bottom town of the Copper Triangle, with visits well worthwhile to the nearby “sister” towns of Kadina and seaside Wallaroo.
- Kadina’s The Farm Shed, run by the National Trust, has half a hectare of undercover interpretive displays on local farming and mining.
- Wallaroo’s award-winning Heritage and Nautical Museum, also run by the National Trust, deals largely with maritime heritage.
- A day tour of Yorke Peninsula south of Moonta should include the pretty towns of Ardrossan, Port Vincent, Stansbury, Edithburgh and Innes National Park
- The Clare Valley is home of almost 40 welcoming cellar doors producing some
of Australia’s finest wine, led by world-famous riesling. - The old copper town of Burra is unique and fascinating, offering a Museum Pass
with key so you can explore a series of historic buildings and museums.
Surrounded by stunning seaside vistas, history-proud Moonta was founded with the
1861 discovery, initially in a wombat burrow, of rich copper deposits and it became
South Australia’s second-biggest town.
The mines were largely operated by Cornish miners, and Moonta is today tagged
“Australia’s Little Cornwall,” with no visit complete without sampling a
mouth-watering Cornish pastie from The Cornish Kitchen.
The town has a strong National Trust presence and celebrates its history with
Kernewek Lowender, the world’s biggest Cornish festival.
The mining precinct is a protected State Heritage Area. Train tours are offered
around the site, and the National Trust’s Moonta Mines Museum is fascinating.
