Copper Coast

*This article is about a region in Australia. For coast of County Waterford, Ireland, see Copper Coast (Ireland).

Copper Coast is a region of South Australia situated in Northern Yorke Peninsula and comprising the towns of Wallaroo, Kadina, Moonta, Paskeville and Port Hughes. The area approximately bounded by Wallaroo, Kadina and Moonta is also known as the Copper Triangle. The area is so named because copper was mined from there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a significant source of economic prosperity for South Australia at the time. These three towns are known for their large Cornish ethnicity, often called "Little Cornwall". Kernewek Lowender is the world's largest Cornish Festival, held biennially in the Cornish Triangle.

The area continues to make a significant contribution to the economy of South Australia, as a major producer of grain, particularly barley and wheat.

The area became established as a source of copper in 1861, when Paddy Ryan found copper traces coming out of a wombat's burrow which was on a pastoral lease granted to Walter Watson Hughes. Hughes formed the Tipara Mining Company, which later became the Moonta Mining Co.

In the late 1800s, Moonta had the largest urban population outside of Adelaide, with 12,000 people, including many Cornish miners and their families who brought with them their skills, and lifestyle. Much of the character of this period was captured by local cartoonist Oswald Pryor (1881–1971), son of a Cornish miner.

Agriculture, but not mining, became more important to the region's economy from the 1880s onward. The region has been able to sustain its agricultural productivity as it is below the Goyder Line.

The coastal towns of the Copper Coast are popular destinations for tourists, particularly from Adelaide, as well as from regional areas of South Australia.

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