Wheal Watkins mine
mine in South Australia
Wheal Watkins mine, formerly Wheal Gawler mine, is an historic lead and silver mine in Glen Osmond, South Australia. The mine first operated from 1844 until 1850, and again briefly in 1888 to 1889, and 1916. From 1986 onwards, the mine was accessible by guided tour, until a rockfall event prompted its closure in 2005.
Development
The Wheal Watkins mine was preceded by the Wheal Gawler mine, which was opened in May 1841. The initial discovery of galena in the field is attributed to James Heneker.
The property containing the Wheal Watkins lead and silver deposit was purchased by Mr. Watkins of Worthing, England in December 1841. It was purchased through his South Australian agent, Peter Peachey, who opened a mine there on his behalf in 1843. He first worked the deposit in May 1844. The lode was found to contain 70% lead and 30 ounces of silver per ton.
“Wheal Watkins mine” enters the record as mine in South Australia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Wheal, Watkins and mine can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7991801. Authority coordinates are -34.962, 138.655. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1844, 1850, 1888 and 1889.
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This entry incorporates text from “Wheal Watkins mine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.