Back Roads Season 12 Episode 5

Reality Realm US

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Transcript

00:12Oh, I look like I'm straight out of the 1860s.

00:16Backroads is off to join in the fun of the Cornish Festival

00:19on the Copper Coast of South Australia.

00:27It's surprising that right here,

00:29outside Cornwall,

00:31they hold the biggest Cornish festival in the world.

00:35It's a legacy of the thousands of miners

00:38who left a depressed Cornwall in the 1860s,

00:41enduring an arduous 10 weeks

00:44for new opportunities on the Copper Coast.

00:47It's just west of Adelaide,

00:49with the bustling towns of Kadena, Moonta and Wallaroo.

00:54And one, two, three, four...

00:57I'm here just as they're finishing all the preparations for the festival,

01:01which started over 50 years ago.

01:04This looks hard.

01:07Left, right, that's it.

01:09I feel like having a jig too.

01:11And then I'm going to turn and we go one, two...

01:16It's a massive community effort.

01:18Oh, foul.

01:19It's not going to fit me, though.

01:21Oh, sorry. Ow. Sorry. Ow.

01:24There's probably about 40 mums doing the exact same thing right now.

01:28Better get out of the way. The parade's coming.

01:30I'm Paul West, and I'm on the Copper Coast

01:33to see why they make such a fuss about all things Cornish.

01:36And if there's enough people, with enough push,

01:39to go for another 50 years.

01:42Welcome to Colonel McLevanda!

01:45Ha-ha!

01:54The big week really kicks off in the town of Moonta,

01:58with a grand parade.

02:05I'm told the name of the festival means Cornish happiness.

02:10I don't know much about the Cornish, except they love pasties,

02:13so I'm keen to find out more.

02:17I can see this is a showcase of history and legend.

02:22Give us your gold!

02:24Yay!

02:26Apparently, real-life pirates really did raid

02:28the Cornish town of Penzance hundreds of years ago.

02:31Who knew?

02:37Well, g'day. You two certainly look the part. Are you locals?

02:40We are. Our children are in the parade here today.

02:43Here she comes now!

02:45Here she comes! This is our daughter, Scarlett.

02:46Oh, g'day. G'day, Scarlett.

02:48And Jake is on the picky boy float.

02:51Oh, look at the little legends up there.

02:53So what are they doing up there?

02:54So they're sorting all the ore for the mines,

02:57and they've got their Cornish flags and, yeah.

03:01So even the little kids would be working in the mines?

03:03Yes.

03:04And how far from town here would the Munta mine be?

03:07Uh, only a couple of k's.

03:09There's actually lots of underground tunnels still to this day.

03:14This is the history behind all the hoopla.

03:27The old mine just outside Munta, with mountains of tailings,

03:31is the key to the area's Cornishness.

03:34It was rich with copper.

03:36It was huge.

03:37And from the 1860s, it's shaped the culture here.

03:51As head of the local National Trust,

03:53this mine has been Graeme Hancock's passion for the last 15 years.

03:58Copper mining actually began in South Australia

04:02before it went to other parts of Australia.

04:05There's not much he doesn't know about the skill of Cornish miners.

04:12It was said that at any hard rock mine in the world,

04:16you could always find a Cornishman at the bottom.

04:19So they had a real reputation.

04:23I'm learning that the Cornish had been miners for thousands of years,

04:27since the Bronze Age.

04:29So they found the copper here...

04:32Yes.

04:33..and then put the call out for Cornish miners to come to Australia.

04:37Absolutely. A major immigration program.

04:40Yeah.

04:40We were talking a population here of 12,000 to 13,000...

04:44Wow. ..people. Yeah.

04:48I can just picture this place pumping in its heyday.

04:55..it was the first Australian mine to make a million pounds,

04:58and it fuelled the early South Australian economy.

05:06How significant a site was this mine here?

05:10It is of world significance

05:13because it was one of the biggest mining areas for copper in the world.

05:23Well, this was purely built as a water pump in 1865.

05:30Graeme kept up the campaign for recognition,

05:32and now the mine's been shortlisted for World Heritage status.

05:38These ruins at Richmond's Engine House.

05:41So this is the beating heart of the mine.

05:43It is the beating heart of the mine.

05:46The heritage listing will keep the history alive

05:49and the Cornish culture meaningful for future generations.

05:54Now, here, from the inside, of course,

05:56you can look up and see exactly where the Cornish beam engine was perched.

06:00In here was world-leading technology,

06:04invented, of course, by Cornish engineers.

06:07Steam-driven cylinder here,

06:10the bob connected to the winding equipment.

06:14And so this was...

06:15They pumped out groundwater so mining could go deeper and deeper.

06:20The innovations here actually did change the face of mining around the world.

06:28It's Cornish innovation, it's Cornish endurance, if you like,

06:33that exists and oozes out of every relict that you see.

06:37And people, as we go forward with World Heritage listing,

06:41more people will see our place in the world today.

06:48MUSIC PLAYS

06:49But there is a darker side to the Cornish miners' story.

06:54Boys as young as 10 work sorting through a tonne of ore every shift.

06:59This is the grim reality behind the Picky Boy kids

07:02I saw earlier in the parade.

07:05Many local families have a Picky Boy in their history.

07:10Up in the nearby town of Kadena,

07:12I'm meeting Paul and Liz Rowan.

07:15Paul's grandfather, Reg, became a Picky Boy.

07:17And Paul has Reg's precious keepsakes safely tucked away.

07:24That's how I remember him, as a young boy.

07:29We'd go out the mines and he'd show us everything.

07:33He started off as a Picky Boy.

07:36He was 14 years of age when he started that.

07:39And then, you know, upgraded up through the ranks and become a miner.

07:43And then that's when he was a bit of a younger man with his movie camera.

07:48Yeah, he looks like a movie star.

07:49He's a dashing-looking chap.

07:51Yeah, a bit like me.

07:52Yeah, Apple doesn't fall far from the tree there, Paul.

07:55No.

07:55There's another one.

07:57Paul and Liz retired to Kadena after a life of farming nearby.

08:01But memories of Reg and the mines left a deep impact on the family.

08:07Incredible.

08:08I mean, they're so striking.

08:09It's so crystal clear.

08:11Yeah.

08:12He was a keen photographer in the early days.

08:14Yeah.

08:14Reg helped the official photographer at the Wallaroo Mines in the early 1900s and left these

08:20incredible glass photos.

08:23It's huge.

08:24Yeah, absolutely.

08:25Yeah.

08:26Because you don't really get a sense of that now.

08:28No.

08:29It's all gone.

08:30That's an underground shot.

08:32Oh, wow.

08:34I mean, so these are the conditions that they were working in.

08:38And this could be 100 metres underground with no electricity.

08:41Yeah.

08:42So these guys are doing this work by hand, by candlelight.

08:46Yeah.

08:47It looks like a hard job.

08:48Yeah, the conditions of the mines were terrible, like dirty, wet, dusty, you name it.

08:54Well, he actually was interviewed with an article and some of his words on that were,

09:03they worked wet the skin in awful temperatures.

09:07And when they were killed on the job, their widows got one day's pay in compensation.

09:12One day's pay.

09:14And if they survived the mines, they often died young of the dust.

09:20Liz has Cornish ancestors too.

09:23Her great-great-grandfather also worked at the Wallaroo Mines.

09:27Unfortunately, he was killed in the mines.

09:29They were setting up some blasting and the blast wasn't successful.

09:34So leaving a widow, which would have been my great-great-grandma, and a young family.

09:41Jeez, we've got it easy now, don't we?

09:43We do. We do.

09:49The Copper Coast is changing.

09:52It's becoming a hot coastal destination with hundreds of new people moving in.

09:58And I wonder if that will affect the area's love of Cornishness.

10:03The town of Wallaroo is where they once smelted the copper and shipped it out.

10:10Today, there's a favourite festival event at the Wallaroo Church Hall,

10:14and I think it's sure to keep drawing in the crowds.

10:17I've come to lend a hand.

10:23Okay. Glad you're here. Extra pair of hands is always welcome.

10:28What are we making today?

10:29We're making pasties according to an old Cornish recipe that my great-grandmother brought with her

10:36from Cornwall.

10:37June Ladner is not only a Uniting Church Minister, she's Cornish up to her pasty-making elbows.

10:44So would the miners used to take the pasties down the mines of them?

10:48Yep. It was probably the first takeaway food, a pasty.

10:52And how specific is the recipe?

10:55Very specific. You don't put carrots in Cornish pasties.

10:58Oh, okay.

10:59Yeah. Oh, yeah. It can be civil war.

11:03So it's steeped in tradition then, making pasties.

11:05Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

11:06The recipe...

11:08June's grandparents and her eight great-grandparents were all Cornish.

11:14What kind of characteristics do the Cornish folk have?

11:17Oh, they're pretty resilient. They're stubborn.

11:23That describes me pretty well. And I think our expression, you know,

11:28Jack's as good as his master is definitely Cornish. They would not kowtow to anyone.

11:34Yeah. Yeah.

11:34Sounds like they're really proud people.

11:37Proud, independent, stubborn.

11:40Yeah.

11:42Turns out, today is a sellout with 50 eager and hungry students.

11:47Well, I'm going to be picking your brain for pasty-making wisdom today, Wendy.

11:51It looks like you've made a few over the years.

11:53A few.

11:54Just a couple.

11:55Absolutely. You're going to invite pasty, Paul.

12:00Liz, good to see you. I do have friends.

12:02Here's Liz, who I met earlier with her husband, Paul.

12:06This is the first time I've actually taken part in this.

12:10Um, and I thought, well, why not? You're never too old to learn something different.

12:16Right. School's in.

12:19So the first thing you do is you tip in the flour and the dripping.

12:25Now it's time to get down and get dirty.

12:29You never, never, never, never, ever dice.

12:34The meat, do not mint. It's supposed to be quarter-inch cubes.

12:39It was poverty cooking.

12:42They were very, very poor. They worked very hard and they were very poor.

12:49All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're up to the last and final step.

12:55Move it towards you. Squeeze.

12:59Squeeze before and after.

13:03Pretty happy with that. Hope it tastes as good as it looks.

13:06I wonder how the Cornish feel about tomato sauce.

13:09The girls will be coming around with the trays now.

13:13This is all good fun, but I'm keen to know what drives June to go to all this trouble.

13:19I think that it's really important for everyone to know who they are and where they've come from.

13:23It saves you from making some stupid decisions.

13:27It centres your life. You can't drift if you know who you are.

13:32Do you think people are a bit adrift?

13:34Oh, yes. All over the place. All over the place.

13:39That isn't a problem right here.

13:41Knowing who you are is what the massive effort going into the festival is all about.

13:53Now for the moment of truth.

13:56Had a blowout. Epic fail.

13:58Not too bad.

14:00It's still going to taste good though.

14:01It'll be okay.

14:06That's come up good.

14:08Beautiful. Hell yeah.

14:09It smells good.

14:11What do you reckon?

14:12I reckon, I reckon you're top of the class.

14:15Oh, that's what I want to hear.

14:17Oh, you're just saying that, June.

14:20That's come up good.

14:21If anyone else asks me, I'll say the same.

14:27I'm getting to understand that although they were at the other side of the world,

14:31Cornish ties to the homeland stayed strong.

14:36Cornwall was famously the land of King Arthur, rich in folklore and myth.

14:43Their Celtic language and culture was suppressed by the English for centuries.

14:48They fought to keep it, but lost.

14:51Till finally, early last century, it was revived.

15:01The language is cousin to Irish and Welsh.

15:05It lives again.

15:12The Cornish bards uphold the culture and tap into its ancient roots.

15:23Sometimes rituals take you into strange realms, and I'm keen to delve into this mystical world.

15:40It's a part of the culture.

15:41G'day, Lillian.

15:42Hello, Paul.

15:44It's nice to see you.

15:44There are even Cornish bards in Australia.

15:47I found one of the oldest living bards, Lillian James, right here in the town of Munter.

15:54It's an honour to become a bard of Cornwall.

15:57It's a part of the culture.

15:59They kept the stories, the poems, the songs alive.

16:16I was made a bard in 1988.

16:34It's a marvellous ceremony.

16:38The first ceremony is something that you never, never ever forget.

16:47There we were, bards.

16:49We're sending our message to the world.

16:53We're sending our message to the world.

16:56And this is the National Tartum.

17:11Now in her 90s, Lillian spent a long time tapping into her own Cornish roots.

17:18That's my grandfather.

17:20And he was a foreman in the Munter mines.

17:23Fluent Cornish was long gone by the time Lillian's grandfather arrived in Australia in the 1870s.

17:30So my mother didn't know any Cornish language,

17:33and my grandmother either, when she came from Cornwall.

17:37Lillian wanted to reverse this loss.

17:40After retiring from high school teaching, she signed up for a language course.

17:44The study of the Cornish language is for four years.

17:49I just used tapes, and I would do my ironing, and my boys and their dad would go off to

17:57football,

17:57and I'd be ironing and saying all these Cornish words as I'm ironing them.

18:12I don't know what the time.

18:15I don't know what the time would go on.

18:32loses the soul of this country.

18:35Maze pan stanky as thin.

18:37Cornish rolls off Lillian's tongue so beautifully.

18:41It's not for the faint-hearted,

18:42but I'm up for the challenge.

18:47Would you like to learn some Cornish language?

18:48I'd love to learn some Cornish, yeah.

18:51Just a simple little sentence,

18:53so perhaps we say thank you and goodbye.

18:57Muras.

18:58Muras.

18:59Ha, which is and.

19:01Ha.

19:02Duganis.

19:04Muras.

19:05Ha.

19:05Duganis.

19:06Duganis.

19:07Deworth.

19:08Deworth.

19:09Which is from Canewick-Lowenda.

19:12Okay.

19:15Muras.

19:16Muras.

19:17Ha.

19:19Duganis.

19:20From Deworth.

19:21Deworth.

19:23Canewick-Lowenda.

19:25Well done.

19:26Oh, you're a great teacher, Lillian.

19:28No.

19:29What about if I wanted to celebrate, how would you say, cheers?

19:34Yah-hiz-da.

19:35Good health.

19:36Yah-hiz-da.

19:38Yah-hiz-da.

19:41It's hard not to be lifted up by the passion and high spirits of people like Lillian.

19:50Back at the festival, crowds are gathering for the Merry Maypole with its celebration of spring, its abundance and its

19:57weather.

20:05And I'm raring to join in.

20:07Do you think I could borrow you please?

20:09Sure.

20:10Can you come and sit and be a weight for the pole for me?

20:13Do you think I'm qualified?

20:15I think you'll have this completely under control.

20:17Alright.

20:26Being a weight for a Maypole isn't something I've tried before.

20:30But it feels kind of nice to be in the middle of a pagan tradition and usher in the warm

20:34summer months.

20:35Even if we are drowning.

20:38Well done.

20:39Keep it going.

20:41Nine.

20:42Ten.

20:43Tegan's a local high school teacher and loves the festival.

20:47She's super keen to see the younger generation getting involved.

20:55It looks like if one person gets it wrong it could be chaos around the Maypole.

21:01It can be but we tell the children we keep going.

21:05We just smile and skip without ribbons if we have to.

21:09Sounds like great advice for life.

21:10Just smile and keep skipping.

21:12Just keep on going.

21:15What does it mean to you to see your daughters out here doing it?

21:19It fulfils my heart.

21:22I adored doing this as a child and getting my hair done with mum and mum making my dresses.

21:30Were you looking sharp today Kenzie?

21:32Yep.

21:32Do you like the dress that Nem made you?

21:34Yep very much.

21:36I do really love it.

21:41I hope that this continues and technology doesn't take over and that like people continue the heritage no matter if

21:49they're Cornish or not.

21:51I hope this means the festival has a bright future.

21:56Is this something you think you'll be involved in into the future?

21:58I really hope so I would love to keep going with it.

22:03I reckon music and dance must have brought huge joy to the Cornish migrants of the 1800s.

22:12But their everyday life was quite different.

22:21Across the parched plains just out of Kadena, where pioneer farmers once labored, the festival is taking a strange turn.

22:41We're here at the graveside of Emily Annie Price.

22:48A cemetery isn't your typical festival venue and this dressing of the graves event is unique and quite a Cornish

22:56thing to do.

22:57Anyone can nominate an ancestor and then we hear a story of their life.

23:03Emily's life was tragically cut short.

23:07During her second pregnancy, Emily succumbed to the illness of toxemia.

23:12Pasty maker June Ladner is in her uniting church role today.

23:17She tells me the early settlers battled so their kids could have a better future.

23:22Her untimely death was a profound loss to the family and the community that had known her.

23:34We've had grandchildren and great-grandchildren who've turned up because this is their family story.

23:42This is where they come from.

23:44This is who they are.

23:46They're able to say who they are because the family and community connection has been kept alive.

23:53At each grave a floral tribute is laid and a citation read...

23:58The Cornish are religious people.

24:01Historically, they're superstitious.

24:04They're fae.

24:06They have premonitions that are right.

24:11And there are probably more saints' names of towns in Cornwall than there are anywhere else in the world.

24:19Even though Emily Price wasn't Cornish, the ceremony is open for anyone.

24:25Her descendants tell me it's quite a moving experience.

24:29We're here to honour Emily Price, who is my great-grandmother.

24:37My grandfather never knew where his mother was buried until he was 45,

24:41and he drove past the cemetery while he farmed the land out here.

24:46Pup was beautiful. He's up there watching us today.

24:48Yeah.

24:51And do you think it's a little bit odd to have a ceremony like this dressing graves as a part

24:56of a festival?

24:58No, I don't.

24:59It's history.

25:01History's got to come from death and life, and it's an evolving cycle, isn't it, of life?

25:10Yeah, it's what builds the community and keeps it going.

25:15History and community are coming together in Kadena today.

25:19The whole festival's really opened my eyes to what it means to be Cornish.

25:27And it's impressive to see, after 50 years of celebrating,

25:30that identity is a heritage everyone can share, Cornish or not.

25:42The mines might have closed long ago, and the times are definitely changing,

25:47but I've got a sense that that Cornish spirit of hard work and community

25:50will live on here for many years to come.

26:01Now that's really something to dance about.

26:04And I'm told this one, the furry dance, is as Cornish as it gets.

26:16I really hope to see that this festival continues to flourish and grow.

26:22I hope to follow in Dad's footsteps and make my mark on the committee one day.

26:29Our state was virtually built on the wealth that come from these mines,

26:34so there's just a lot here, and it's something to be cherished, I think.

26:43It's there for them to appreciate, to value, and to continue with Canuit Luenda.

26:52I just hope it continues.

27:09Sorry, Lillian, I'll keep practising.

27:21Next time, I'm in Gainville.

27:25A Queensland town that's crazy about citrus.

27:29It pretty much is State of Oranges.

27:32State of Oranges, yes.

27:33Four, six, two, one!

27:35Four, six, two, one!

27:37And where I give it my best shot to fit in with some of the locals.

27:43Down it goes.

27:46I can't feel my lips anymore.

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