Burra Heritage Trail - Hampton Township
For some all this is just a heap of old stone and rubble. But not for Peter Birt. This former State Transport Authority bus driver is now driving an archeological project aimed at uncovering more about the people who lived in a little town called Hampton on the outskirts of Burra. In recent years these ruins have been a virtual second home for Peter and other students from the Flinders University Archeology Department, as they scratch away at our colonial past.
Prior to 1845, all of this was sheep country, until a shepherd found copper sticking out of the ground and within a few short years the town of Burra was booming. And with it came a series of satellite towns.
"This is the village of Hampton, Hampton township"
Hampton is on Burra's Passport Key Trail offering the visitor entry into what was once a private township named after Edward Hampton, the assayer at the nearby smelting works. At one point there were thirty cottages here, many modelled on floor plans used in Cornwall or Wales.
"Pretty certain this was the kitchen area for this house, certainly a later addition to what was originally a two-roomed structure at the front, and they've added on two rooms and later added on a kitchen here. Uhmm, this was the Bertram House, it's probably one of the most intact places left in the township".
"You get a sense of how small it must have been. I mean, this is a sizable building by Hampton's standards I suppose, but it's still very compact".
"It's certainly one of the bigger ones, whilst on the small side. You've got to realise that people weren't really expecting mansions. A place like this is certainly going to be a step up from the dugouts, and probably a step up in a lot of ways from what they might have been used to in the UK - number one I mean most of this was owner built so the fact that they're owning their own land and building their own homes is, I think, a very important issue". From here the miners would walk to the nearby Burra Mine. The reason towns like Hampton were tucked away on the outskirts was all to do with the constant search for copper. The South Australian Mining Association or "Sammy" as it was known at the time, owned the land on which Burra sits today. Back then no-one could build a private dwelling on the Sammy lease, for fear that it may sit on yet more valuable copper.
"The fact that the company land finished pretty much at the edge of the mine allowed for private speculation and government townships to set up outside. So you have a whole series of enterprises going on including Redruth and Aberdeen and places like here at Hampton, and numerous other little places that lasted for a little, but didn't get off the ground".
In fact people lived here until 1960, and then sadly much was taken away, stone by stone. But the remains of the old storeroom remain, and many of the fruit trees go back to last century. The floor plans point to a very multicultural mix in towns like Hampton, the Bertram cottage was a standard British design, while across the road lived the Mullers from Hanover in Germany.
"Yes, the indications from this place are that we have a front room, back room, we've got a smaller room at the centre and what looks to be an entry area coming off of that. It's quite reminiscent of what some of us see in Hahndorf, the floor plans there. Smaller scale but the principles are the same".
For this one time bus driver, the road more travelled now is the old one between the Bertram and Muller cottages and for him the transition to archeologist is all about uncovering more about who we are.
"A lot of the colonial history is right here?"
"Right here - right around us. People see it on a daily basis, ride through the country and you see the little ruins and tumbledown farmhouses and whatnot, it's all part and parcel of where we've come from".
Hampton is about one and a half kilometres from centre of Burra. You can obtain a Passport Key to the old ruins at the Burra Visitors' Centre in Market Square.
For more information email info@postcards-sa.com.au
