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Thomas PickettPrint Page Print this page

24-September-2015
24-September-2015

Photographs supplied by Sandra Headland

The monument commemorates shepherd Thomas Pickett who discovered the Burra copper deposit in 1845. It was erected in 1971 and replaced in 2009. 

Pickett received 10 pounds from an Adelaide syndicate who had ridden up to inspect a nearby lode and also another 10 pounds from the South Australian Mining association.

A suggestion that he should receive some shares in the company was brushed aside as ‘unwarranted expenditure’. Letters were written to The Register on Pickett’s behalf, especially when the mine returned 800% on shareholders’ investment two years later. By 1851 Pickett was dead, burned to death in a hut three miles from Kooringa. Mr C.J. Ware, the licensee of the Miners` Arms Hotel wrote to the Directors of the South Australian Mining Association appealing to them to at least pay for Thomas Pickett`s funeral expenses. The company at last responded, stating that they had "authorised the payment of the funeral expenses, attending the burial of old Tom Pickett."

Location

Address:Goyder Highway, , Burra , 5417
State:SA
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -33.670773
Long: 138.972345
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Industry

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:1971
Front Inscription

Thomas Pickett whose discovery of copper lead to the opening of the Burra Burra Mine, 29th September 1845.

Lived opposite here in his shepherd`s hut on Diprose Creek.

Erected 1971 by the Burra Burra Branch of the National Trust

Plaque replaced by the Regional Council of Goyder and the National Trust 2009.

 

Source: MA, NRUM
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au