- 54 minutes ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:01MUSIC
00:12I 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 ten 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 gonna turn and we go one, two...
01:15It's a massive community effort.
01:18Oh, foul.
01:20It's not gonna fit me though.
01:21Oh, sorry.
01:22Ow.
01:23Sorry.
01:24Ow.
01:24It's probably about 40 mums doing the exact same thing right now.
01:28Better get out of the way.
01:29The parade's coming.
01:30I'm Paul West,
01:31and 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,
01:38with enough push,
01:39to go for another 50 years.
01:41Welcome to Colonel Magdalena!
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,
02:12except they love pasties,
02:13so I'm keen to find out more.
02:17I can see this as a showcase of history and legend.
02:22Give us your goal!
02:26Apparently, real-life pirates really did raid the Cornish town
02:29of Penzance hundreds of years ago.
02:31Who knew?
02:37Well, g'day.
02:37You two certainly look the part.
02:39Are you locals?
02:40We are.
02:40Our children are in the parade here today.
02:43Here she comes now.
02:44Here she comes.
02:45This is our daughter, Scarlett.
02:46Oh, g'day.
02:47G'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 Moonta mine be?
03:07Only 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 Moonta, 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 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.
04:33And 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 people.
04:46Yeah.
04:48I can just picture this place pumping in its heyday.
04:54It 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 are 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.
05:53Now here, from the inside, of course, you can look up and see
05:57exactly where the Cornish beam engine was perched.
06:01In here was world-leading technology,
06:04invented, of course, by Cornish engineers.
06:07Steam-driven cylinder here, the bob, connected to the winding equipment.
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.
06:36And people, as we go forward with World Heritage listing,
06:41more people will see our place in the world today.
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 I saw earlier in the parade.
07:05Many local families have a picky boy in their history.
07:10Up in the nearby town of Kadena, I'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.
07:32He 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.
07:55There's another one.
07:56Paul 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.
08:11He was a keen photographer in the early days.
08:14Reg helped the official photographer at the Wallaroo mines in the early 1900s
08:18and left these incredible glass photos.
08:23It's huge.
08:24Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
08:26Because you don't really get a sense of that now.
08:28No, it'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.
08:41Yeah.
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.
08:51Dirty, wet, dusty, you name it.
08:54Well, he actually was interviewed with an article
08:57and 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,
09:09their widows got one day's pay in compensation.
09:13One 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
09:31and the blast wasn't successful.
09:34So leaving a widow,
09:37which would have been my great-great-grandma,
09:39and 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
09:54with 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
10:06and 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.
10:22OK.
10:24Glad you're here.
10:25Extra pair of hands is always welcome.
10:28What are we making today?
10:29We're making pasties.
10:31According to an old Cornish recipe
10:34that my great-grandmother brought with her from Cornwall.
10:37June Ladner is not only a Uniting Church Minister,
10:40she'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.
10:49It was probably the first takeaway food, a pasty.
10:52And how specific is the recipe?
10:55Very specific.
10:56You don't put carrots in Cornish pasties.
10:58Oh, OK.
10:59Yeah.
11:00Oh, yeah.
11:00It can be civil war.
11:03So it's steeped in tradition then, making pasties.
11:06Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
11:07The recipe...
11:08June's grandparents and her eight great-grandparents were all Cornish.
11:14What kind of characteristics do the Cornish folk have?
11:18They're pretty resilient.
11:21They're stubborn.
11:23That describes me pretty well.
11:25And I think our expression, you know, Jack's as good as his master,
11:30is definitely Cornish.
11:31They would not kowtow to anyone.
11:34Yeah.
11:34Sounds like they're really proud people.
11:36Proud. Independent.
11:39Stubborn.
11:42Turns out, today is a sell-out.
11:44With 50 eager and hungry students.
11:47Well, I'm going to be picking your brain for pasty-making wisdom today,
11:51will you?
11:51Looks like you've made a few over the years.
11:54Just a couple?
11:56You can have my passing calls.
12:00Liz, good to see you.
12:02I do have friends.
12:03Here's Liz, who I met earlier with her husband Paul.
12:06This is the first time I've actually taken part in this.
12:11And I thought, well, why not?
12:13You'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.
12:37It's supposed to be quarter-inch cubes.
12:40It was poverty cooking.
12:42They were very, very poor.
12:45They worked very hard.
12:47And they were very poor.
12:49Hi, ladies and gentlemen.
12:51We're up to the last and final step.
12:55Move it towards you.
12:57Squeeze.
12:57Squeeze.
13:00Squeeze before and after.
13:03Pretty happy with that.
13:04Hope 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.
13:14But 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
13:22and where they've come from.
13:23It saves you from making some stupid decisions.
13:27It centres your life.
13:29You can't drift if you know who you are.
13:32Do you think people are a bit adrift?
13:34Oh, yes.
13:36Or over the place.
13:37Or 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.
13:57Epic fail.
13:58It's not too bad.
14:00It's still going to taste good though.
14:01It'll be okay.
14:06And that's come off good.
14:08Hell yeah.
14:09It smells good.
14:11What do you reckon?
14:12I 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 off 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.
14:39Rich 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.
14:55The language is cousin to Irish and Welsh.
15:05It lives again.
15:11The Cornish bards uphold the culture and tap into its ancient roots.
15:24Sometimes rituals take you into strange realms, and I'm keen to delve into this mystical world.
15:30Yikes!
15:33BIRDS CHIRP
15:34BIRDS CHIRP
15:40Hello.
15:41G'day Lillian.
15:42Hello Paul, it'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 Munta.
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.
16:15I was made a bard in 1988.
16:21Lillian James, Courtney Owl, Mrs. James is the first Australian woman to have passed all her examinations in Cornwall.
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.
16:52Pray what is due, my baby.
16:57Hold on, pray for the answer.
17:08And 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 Moontown 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.
17:51And I would do my ironing.
17:54And my boys and their dad would go off to football.
17:57And I'd be ironing and saying all these Cornish words to me as I'm ironing them.
18:15She's written a book of stories entirely in Cornish and has taught language classes at the festival for decades.
18:26Why do you think it's so important to keep the language alive?
18:30Cornwall loses its language.
18:32It loses the soul of its country.
18:35Maize pan stanky as thin.
18:37Cornish rolls off Lillian's tongue so beautifully.
18:40It's not for the faint-hearted, but I'm up for the challenge.
18:47Would you like to learn some Cornish language?
18:49I'd love to learn some Cornish, yeah.
18:51Just a simple little sentence.
18:53So perhaps we'll 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 Knewick Lawinda.
19:12Okay.
19:12Pfft.
19:15Muras.
19:16Muras.
19:17Ha.
19:17Ha.
19:19Duganis.
19:20From Deworth.
19:21Deworth.
19:23Knewick Lawinda.
19:24Well done.
19:26Oh, you're a great teacher, Lillian.
19:28What 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.
19:39Yah-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
19:55of spring, its abundance and its weather.
20:00Got it right.
20:01You want it to rain, set up a Maypole.
20:03It'll rain.
20:04Give it up.
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 wait for the pole for me?
20:13Do you think I'm qualified?
20:15I think you'll have this completely under control.
20:26Being a wait for a Maypole isn't something I've tried before, but it feels kind of nice to
20:31be in the middle of a pagan tradition and usher in the warm summer months, even if we are
20:36drowning.
20:37Well done.
20:39Keep it going.
20:40Nine.
20:42Ten.
20:43Teagan's a local high school teacher and loves the festival.
20:46She's super keen to see the younger generation getting involved.
20:55It looks like that if you get one person gets it wrong, it could be chaos around the Maypole.
21:01It can be, but we tell the children we keep going.
21:06We just smile and skip without ribbons if we have to.
21:09Sounds like great advice for life.
21:10Just smile and keep skipping.
21:12Keep on going.
21:15What does it mean to you to see your daughters out here doing it?
21:19Oh, it fulfills 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?
21:35Yep, very much.
21:36I do really love it.
21:41I hope that this continues and technology doesn't take over and that people continue the heritage
21:48no matter if I'm 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.
21:59I 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 laboured,
22:25the festival is taking a strange turn.
22:42We're here at the graveside of Emily Annie Price.
22:47A cemetery isn't your typical festival venue, and this dressing of the graves event is unique
22:54and quite a Cornish thing 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.
23:12Pastry 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.
23:23Her 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's 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.
23:52At each grave, a floral tribute is laid and a citation read...
23:57Are the Cornish a 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
24:17than 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.
24:36My grandfather never knew where his mother was buried till he was 45
24:41and he drove past the cemetery while he farmed the land out here.
24:45The park was beautiful. He's up there watching us today.
24:49Yeah.
24:51And do you think it's a little bit odd to have a ceremony like this,
24:55dressing graves as a part of a festival?
24:58No, I don't.
24:59It's history. It's history.
25:01History's got to come from death and life and...
25:06It'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
25:22to 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
25:44and the times are definitely changing,
25:46but I've got a sense that that Cornish spirit
25:49of 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,
26:07is as Cornish as it gets.
26:16I really hope to see that this festival
26:19continues to flourish and grow.
26:22I hope to follow in Dad's footsteps
26:24and make my mark on the committee one day.
26:29Our state was virtually built on the wealth
26:33that come from these mines,
26:34so there's just a lot here
26:37and it's something to be cherished, I think.
26:43It's there for them to appreciate,
26:47to value and to continue with Canewat Lowenda.
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.
27:334, 6, 2, 1!
27:354, 2, 2, 1!
27:36And where I give it my best shot
27:39to fit in with some of the locals.
27:43Down it goes.
27:45I can't feel my lips anymore.
Comments