Australia's Earliest Mining Era: South Australia 1841-1851
Australian History Local History Antiquarian & Collectible Illustrated Reference Mining History Colonial Art Industrial Archaeology South Australian Studies
Australia’s Earliest Mining Era: South Australia 1841-1851 is the scarce 1975 first-edition hardcover that collectors prize for its unique blend of industrial history and colonial art. Ian Auhl and Denis Marfleet combed the state’s newspapers, company ledgers and sketchbooks to reconstruct the decade when copper, lead and silver discoveries turned Adelaide into a boom town. Every spread pairs their crisp narrative with period paintings, maps and lithographs—many reproduced for the first time—so readers see exactly how miners lived, worked and sold their ore before railways or smelters existed. The result is a visually rich, documentary-style portrait that appeals equally to mining buffs, genealogists and art lovers hunting for authentic mid-19th-century Australiana.
What makes this copy especially appealing is its well-preserved vintage condition: the Rigby-published dust jacket still displays the original gold-leaf lettering, while the illustrated boards beneath show only light shelving wear. Inside, the heavy-stock pages remain bright, tight and unmarked—no ex-library stamps, inscriptions or foxing—so the 120+ archival images retain their crisp contrast. Because the print run was small and most copies were used in schools or mining offices, clean first editions now surface only rarely on the secondary market, driving strong demand among collectors of South Australian history and colonial art books.
For anyone building a library on Australian mining, this title is the essential foundation volume. It documents the very first mineral leases at Kapunda and Burra, explains why Cornish and German migrants flocked to the colony, and shows how the lure of instant wealth shaped early Adelaide society. Teachers and home-schooling parents also value the book’s picture-heavy format, which engages YA readers while still supplying the footnotes and primary-source references required for senior history projects. Secure this 1975 Rigby first printing now and you’ll own the reference that every subsequent history of South Australian mining cites.
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