Cornish mining sites at Burra and Moonta have been added to Australia’s UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, where they must remain for at least 12 months before the government can nominate them for a world heritage listing.

The tentative listing is the result of years of work by the Regional Council of Goyder, National Trust SA and Copper Coast Council, which together partnered to establish the Australian Cornish Mining Sites World Heritage Consortium in May 2023.

Copper Coast Council mayor Roslyn Talbot told InDaily the journey to a national heritage listing began in 2010, with an eventual world heritage listing in mind.

The Burra and Moonta sites achieved this national heritage listing in May 2017, and in 2023 Deputy Premier Susan Close wrote to federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to indicate the state government’s support for the bid.

Talbot said the tentative listing which was announced last week was a “significant step”.

“It really to me, signifies that we are worthy of World Heritage Listing and we are well on our way to achieving that,” she said.

“What we have developed so far is being recognised by both the state and federal government as a good nomination.

“It’s really significant and buoyed our enthusiasm to continue on with this journey.”

The two Cornish copper mining landscapes represent the first transfer in the 1840s of the mining technology into South Australia, leading to significant migration to the area from 1846 to 1886.

The two sites showcase the largest and most distant transfer of the Cornish mining culture, with the Burra Mine founded after copper was first discovered in 1845.

The sites date back to the 1840s. Photo: Burra and Moonta Australian Cornish Mining Sites

In order to attain a UNESCO World Heritage Listing, sites must show they are of “outstanding universal value”, according to a variety of selection criteria.

Talbot said the sites’ outstanding universal value related to the “transference of Cornish technological skills, and their mining skills, and their culture and how that has migrated from Cornwall here to Australia”.

“Our heritage and what that has brought to our communities is still really evident and alive today.

“I think that it’s really important to preserve that and to showcase how those Cornish miners transferred their skills and knowledge here to Australia and the impact that it had.”

In announcing the tentative listing, Tanya Plibersek said the sites “showcase our country’s industrial history”.

“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.”

Talbot said a UNESCO listing would not only provide protection to the sites, but would have a flow-on effect.

“The economic benefits to not just our region, but to all of South Australia, it will make it a really key tourist destination point.

“If people are interested in mining and the Cornish culture, and gravitating to this World Heritage Site, they’re going to gravitate to more parts of South Australia as well.

“I can see it being a really great road trip, you know, you could land in Adelaide, travel through the Barossa to Burra, see all of what’s there, cross the Clare Valley, come here to the Copper Coast. It really opens up all of South Australia.”

The sites will join seven others on Australia’s current UNESCO World Heritage Tentative list, including the Flinders Ranges, which were submitted in 2021.

Queensland’s Great Sandy World Heritage Area is the longest of Australia’s tentative listings, having been submitted in January 2010.