The Barra Mine was the most significant mine of Australia's earliest
mining era, which took place in South Australia between 1841 and 1851,
the decade prior to discovery of gold in eastern Australia. Between 1845
and 1860, Barra was the largest metalliferous mine in Australia and
employed up to 1000 men and boys, most of them Cornish.
""Today the site is also important in a physical and archaeological sense
as it contains extensive remains of mining and processing operations of
the period 1850 - 70. Most significant are three cnginchouses which
housed Cornish beam engines.