- 10 hours ago
Back Roads S12E05
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:12Oh, 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, outside 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,
00:42enduring 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, Munta and Wallaroo.
00:54And one, two, three, four...
00:58I'm here just as they're finishing
00:59all 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.
01:19It's not gonna fit me though.
01:21Oh, sorry.
01:22Ow.
01:23Sorry.
01:24Ow.
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 MacLawenza!
01:45Ha-ha-ha!
01:46Ha-ha-ha!
01:55The big week really kicks off in the town of Munta,
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 as a showcase of history and legend.
02:22Give us your goal!
02:24Yay!
02:25Yay!
02:26Apparently, real life pirates really did raid the Cornish town of Penzance
02:30hundreds of years ago.
02:31Who knew?
02:37Well, g'day, you 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!
02:45Here she comes!
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.
03:00So even the little kids would be working in the mines?
03:03Yes.
03:04And how far from town here would the Munta mine be?
03:07Only 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 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 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 people.
04:46Yeah.
04:48I can just picture this place pumping in its heyday.
04:55It 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
05:16for copper in the world.
05:23Well, this was purely built as a water pump in 1865.
05:30Graham 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,
06:11connected 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 ton 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.
07:55No.
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.
08:11Yeah.
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
08:18and left these incredible 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.
08:51Dirty, 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.
09:13One 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 and the blast wasn't successful.
09:34So leaving a widow, which would have been my great-great-grandma, and a young family.
09:41Geez, we've got it easy now, don't we?
09:43We do.
09:44We 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.
10:22OK.
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 that my great-grandmother brought with her from 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.
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.
10:59Oh, yeah.
11:00It can be civil war.
11:03So it's steeped in tradition then, making pasties.
11:05Oh, absolutely.
11:06Absolutely.
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?
11:17Uh, they're pretty resilient.
11:21They're, um, stubborn.
11:23That describes me pretty well.
11:26And I think our expression, you know, Jack's as good as his master, is definitely Cornish.
11:31They would not kowtow to anyone.
11:34Yeah.
11:34Yeah.
11:35Sounds like they're really proud people.
11:37Proud.
11:37Independent.
11:39Stubborn.
11:40Yeah.
11:42Turns out, today is a sellout.
11:44With 50 eager and hungry students.
11:47Well, I'm going to be picking your brain for pasty-making wisdom today, Wendy.
11:51Looks like you've made a few over the years.
11:53A few.
11:54Just a couple.
11:54Absolutely.
11:56You can have my pasty golf.
12:00Liz, good to see C.
12:01I 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.
12:10Um, and I thought, well, why not?
12:13You're never too old to learn something different.
12:16Right.
12:17School'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.
12:30You never, never, never, ever dice.
12:34The meat do not mince.
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 and they were very poor.
12:49Hi, ladies and gentlemen.
12:50We're up to the last and final step.
12:55Move it towards you.
12:57Squeeze.
12:59Squeeze 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, 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.
13:29You can't drift if you know who you are.
13:32Do you think people are a bit adrift?
13:34Oh, yes.
13:36All over the place.
13:37All 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.
13:55Had a blowout.
13:57Epic fail.
13:58See?
13:59Not too bad.
14:00It's not going to taste good though.
14:01It'll be okay.
14:02It'll be okay.
14:06Damn, that's come up good.
14:08Hell yeah.
14:09It smells good.
14:11What do you reckon?
14:13I 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.
14:43The 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.
15:02The language is cousin to Irish and Welsh.
15:05It lives again.
15:11The Cornish bards uphold the culture and tap into its ancient roots.
15:16Do it or throw a winner is craze.
15:22Craze!
15:24Sometimes rituals take you into strange realms.
15:27And I'm keen to delve into this mystical world.
15:40Hello.
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 Moonta.
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 bad in 1988.
16:21Lillian James, Courtney Owl.
16:24Mrs. 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, I pray there.
16:57Go to, please, Mokkarensa.
17:09And this is the National Tartan.
17:11Now in her 90s, Lillian spent a long time tapping into her own Cornish roots.
17:18That's my grandfather and he was a foreman in the Moonta 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 and my grandmother either when she came from Cornwall.
17:37Lillian wanted to reverse this loss.
17:39After 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.
18:15She's written a book of stories entirely in Cornish
18:19and 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, it 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 say thank you and goodbye.
18:57Muras.
18:58Muras.
18:59Muras.
19:00Ha, which is and.
19:01Ha.
19:02Duganis.
19:04Muras.
19:05Ha.
19:05Duganis.
19:06Duganis.
19:07Deworth.
19:08Deworth.
19:09Which is from Canewick Lawenda.
19:12Okay.
19:13Pfff.
19:15Muras.
19:16Muras.
19:17Ha.
19:18Duganis.
19:20From Deworth.
19:21Deworth.
19:23Canewick Lawenda.
19:24Well done.
19:26You're a great teacher, Lillian.
19:28What about if I wanted to celebrate, how would you say, cheers.
19:34Yah-hizda.
19:35Good health.
19:36Yah-hizda.
19:38Yah-hizda.
19:40Hahahaha.
19:40It's hard not to be lifted up by the passion and high spirits of people like
19:45Lillian back at the festival crowds are gathering for the Merry Maypole with its
19:54celebration of spring its abundance and its weather
20:00gotta rain you want it to rain set up a Maypole it'll rain and I'm raring to join
20:07in. Do you think I could borrow you please? Sure. Can you come and sit and be a wait for
20:12the pole for me? Do you think I'm qualified? I think you'll have this completely under control. Alright. Thank you.
20:26Being a wait for a Maypole isn't something I've tried before but it feels kind of nice to be in
20:32the middle of a
20:32Pagan tradition and usher in the warm summer months even if we are drowning well done keep it going
20:419 10. Teagan's a local high school teacher and loves the festival she's super keen to see the younger generation
20:49getting 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 we tell the children we keep going we just smile and skip without ribbons if
21:08we have to
21:08Sounds like great advice for life. Just smile and keep skipping. Keep on going
21:15What does it mean to you to see your daughters out here doing it? Oh it 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? Yeah. Do you like the dress that Nem made you? Yep very much I
21:36do really love it
21:41I hope that this continues and technology doesn't take over and
21:46That like people continue the heritage no matter if they'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? I really hope so I would love to
22:00keep going with it
22:03I
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
22:26The festival is taking a strange turn
22:42We're here at the graveside of Emily
22:46Annie
22:47Price
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
23:13Pastie 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. This 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
23:57The Cornish are a religious people
24:01Historically they're superstitious
24:04They're fae they have premonitions that are right
24:11And there are probably more saints names
24:15of 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 honor Emily price who is my great grandmother
24:37My grandfather never knew where his mother was buried till he was 45 and he drove past the cemetery
24:43While he farmed the land out here pup was beautiful. He's up there watching us today
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, it's history it's history history'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 keeps it going
25:15History and community are coming together in Kadena today the whole festivals really opened my eyes to what it means
25:23to be Cornish
25:27And it's impressive to see after 50 years of celebrating that identity is a heritage everyone can share
25:34Cornish or not
25:42The mines might have closed long ago and the times are definitely changing
25:46But I've got a sense that that cornish spirit of hard work and community will live on here for many
25:52years to come
26:01Now that's really something to dance about and I'm told this one the furry dance is as cornish as it
26:08gets
26:16I
26:17Really hope to see that this festival continues to flourish and 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 so
26:35um, there's there's just a lot here and
26:38It's it's something to be cherished I think
26:43It's there for them to appreciate
26:47To value and to continue with canoe at low enda
26:53I just hope it continues
27:00You're asked again us hard to earth
27:03Kewanik low enda
27:04Sorry, Lillian, I'll keep practicing
27:21Next time i'm in gangland
27:25A queensland town that's crazy about
27:28Citrus it pretty much is a state of oranges state of oranges
27:36And where I give it my best shot to fit in with some of the locals
27:42And where I give it my best shot to fit in with some of the locals
27:44Down it goes
27:45Well, I can't feel my lips anymore
27:47I can't feel my lips anymore
Comments