Welcome to the home page of the Cornish Association of South Australia. Have a look through the various menus and see what we are and have been up to.
Cornwall, a beautiful, rugged land hiding great riches beneath its green pastures. At first these riches of copper and tin were taken from exposed seams, but eventually the miners had to dig deeper and deeper beneath the ground to obtain these riches. Working so far beneath the ground the Cornish developed skills in cutting through the hard granite so common in Cornwall and ‘these skills allowed to them becoming amongst the best hard rock miners in the world’. Their prowess in this field led them to be sought after wherever new mineral deposits were found, notably Mexico, North and South America, Africa and of course Australia. ‘Been to Moonta ‘av ee – Naw – well ‘ee ‘avn’t bin enywhere’ was a common question asked in Cornish communities around the world.
Wherever they went they took their technology e.g. Cornish boilers (from Harveys of Hayle) and their traditions of sport, music and religion. They left lasting memorials of their distinctive engine houses and chimneys throughout the world.
The Cornish Association of South Australia
CASA was formed in Adelaide in 1890, and is the oldest continuously operating such association in the world. It began with great fanfare at a banquet in the Adelaide Town Hall attended by many dignitaries including the premier and leading community figures, many of whom were Cornish or had Cornish ancestry. CASA is dedicated to maintaining awareness and celebration of South Australia’s Cornish heritage.
Kernewek Lowender (the Cornish Festival)
This is an important aspect of Cornish life in South Australia. CASA is involved in and actively supports the Festival which is held every second year on Yorke Peninsula. The Association runs dedicated events including ‘Sup and Sing with the Cornish’, a day-long seminar on topics of Cornish-Australian history, and a public gathering of Australian Bards of the Gorsedh Kernow. For more information on these events click here.
Dressing the Graves is an associated event which honours people buried in cemeteries at Moonta, Wallaroo, Kadina and Green’s Plains West with a short ceremony held at their grave site describing their life and contribution to the community. The ceremony includes a floral tribute, citation and a small plaque placed on each grave by a descendant. Ceremonies for each cemetery are held during the Kernewek Lowender.