| LOCATION |
| Map |
Show Map
|
| Address |
Barrier Highway OLARY |
| Locality |
|
| Accuracy |
H - high level confidence |
| Council Area |
Land Not Within a Council Area (Far North) |
| Polygon Type |
D - item has been digitised (generally because it doesn't exist in a DCDB parcel, eg. bridge |
| DESCRIPTION |
| Details (Known As) |
Radium Hill Townsite and Cemetery |
| Registered Name |
Radium Hill Townsite and Cemetery |
| Significance |
Radium Hill Townsite and Cemetery are significant for their close associations with the early development of uranium mining in South Australia. Radium Hill has a number of important historic associations, including as the site of one of Australia's earliest uranium finds, its naming by Douglas Mawson, and desultory mining activities from 1906 to the early 1940s. However, it was not until after the Second World War that the location really came into prominence.
The destruction of Hiroshima in 1945 not only heralded the end of the Second World War, but also played a crucial role in the inception of the Atomic Age. The subsequent development and use of nuclear technology required fuel, and Radium Hill was recognised as a potential source of uranium, with exploration recommencing there in 1947. Within two years, a decision was made to establish a uranium mine at Radium Hill, with construction of a crushing and sampling plant, the passing of the Uranium Mining Act, and the first structures of the Radium Hill township appearing by the end of 1949. In 1951, Premier Thomas Playford escalated the importance of Radium Hill by negotiating with the US Atomic Energy Commission and the Combined Development Agency to create an agreement for supplying uranium to the United States, and by 1954, full-scale mining and processing was underway at the site. The township expanded to meet the needs of the increased activity and growing workforce, and by the end of the 1950s, Radium Hill sported churches, schools, housing, swimming pools, entertainment venues and a cemetery.
However, the initial optimism of the settlement experienced a setback when output from the mine struggled to compete with higher quality ore available internationally. By 1961, the mine at Radium Hill was forced to close and the township was subsequently abandoned, with many of the buildings and structures being demolished or removed. The surviving fabric at the Radium Hill Townsite and Cemetery, including watertank, building remains, swimming pool, foundations, piers, street layout, garden beds and gravesites provides evocative evidence of South Australia's early and pivotal role in the finding and exploiting of uranium, and its rapid decline in the face of competing market forces. |
| Subject Index |
Cemeteries and burial sites - Cemetery; Mining and mineral processing - Mine |
| Class |
State |
|
|
| STATUS |
| Status Code |
REG - Confirmed as a State Heritage Place in the SA Heritage Register |
| Status Date |
17-MAY-2017 |
| REFERENCE |
| LGA |
Unincorporated SA |
| State Heritage ID |
21246 |
| Heritage Number |
27684 |
|
|
|
| SECTION 16 INFORMATION |
| Section 16 |
a - it demonstrates important aspects of the evolution or pattern of the State's history
|
| PLAN PARCEL & TITLE |
| As listed in the SA Heritage Register |
| Plan Parcel & Title Information |
CL 6209/679 H835400 B1192 |