Hundreds of Cornish miners dug shafts and tunnels with pick and and shovel to find the rich copper ore at Kapunda mine. The influence of these miners on the mining industry in SA was commemorated by a memorial built in 1988.
The 7 meter (23 ft) statue depicts a Cornish miner clad for work--a resin hardened felt hat with a candle stuck on the brim, mallet, pick and spare tallow candles around his neck.
The memorial, known as Map Kernow or the Son of Cornwall, was built by Ben van Zetten and is regarded as one of Australia's Big Things. The original fiberglass statue was destroyed by fire in 2006, when a local teenager attempted to take a photo of the statue surrounded by a "ring of fire." Unfortunately, accelerant splashed on the statues leg causing the actual statue to burn. Fortunately, the statue was well insured and on June 3, 2007 a new bronze statue was rededicated on the same site of the old one, just a year after the original was destroyed.
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Hi Maya, I'm glad that they were able to rebuild the statue of this wonderful memorial. And given the recent event in Chile I think miners have such a difficult job and should be recognized for their hard work and contributions.
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Hi Kathy, the event in Chile really did bring the difficult and dangerous job miners have into the spotlight. This big guy wasn't on my "Big Thing" radar, we just happened to come across him. I didn't even know about its fiery history until I came home and researched him!
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