Kadina Information

Kadina Information

Only 148 kilometres from Adelaide, Kadina is the largest town on the Yorke Peninsula, with a population of around 4,000.

It houses The Farm Shed Museum & Tourism Centre, and a Banking and Currency Museum. Kadina is also one of the homes of the Kernewek Lowender festival, the world's largest Cornish Festival held every two years on the uneven years since 1973.

The name Kadina is believed to have come from the Aboriginal word Kadiyinya meaning 'lizard plain'. Today Kadina is the main commercial centre for a very prosperous agricultural region. However, copper mining was once the main industry for this town; hence Kadina is part of the Copper Coast, which includes Wallaroo and Moonta (also known as 'Little Cornwall').

Copper was first found in 1859 at Wallaroo Mines near Kadina. The population in this area quickly grew and the town of Kadina was surveyed in 1861. The main ethnic group to arrive in this area was the Cornish, bringing with them their mining techniques, labour practices, architecture and the Methodist religion. In 1862 the Wombat Hotel (named after the animals that had discovered the copper) was open for business and a horse-drawn railway was operating at the Wallaroo Mine. By 1891 there were 12,000 people living in the Copper Triangle. The mines closed in 1923, however in this time they removed 170,000 tons of copper.

The original European settlers from this area were mainly Cornish, and examples of Cornish architecture can be found in Kadina including the Royal Exchange and Wombat Hotels (originally a boarding house for new miners), the Kadina Hotel (originally a single storey hotel called the Miner's Arms) and a number of the churches. Kadina has great walks around the town looking at these old building as well as being a base to explore the surrounding mines.

Kadina offers all the facilities of a large town and a wide range of accommodation as well as been close to a number of stunning scenic and family friendly beaches, in Moonta Bay, Port Hughes and Wallaroo. In addition to this it great base for exploring the northern end of the Yorke Peninsula and its rich history.