The story of Moonta - a small town on South Australia's northern Yorke Peninsula - and its special place in the Cornish transnational identity, is an extraordinary one.
From the beginning, Moonta cast itself as unique among Cornish immigrant
communities, becoming 'the hub of the universe' according to its patriotic
inhabitants. In this gripping history of the migration and settlement of Cornish
people, Philip Payton explores Moonta and its copper-mining hinterland. He
charts the arrival of hundreds of Cornish immigrants in the second half of the
nineteenth century and the transplantation of distinctive Cornish cultural
patterns that saw the town invent itself as 'Australia's Little Cornwall'.
Accessible and appealing, 'Making Moonta' will engage anyone with an interest
in the impact of Cornwall and the Cornish on the wider world, while also
providing a valuable insight into life in nineteenth and early twentieth-century
Australia.
Contents:
List of Illustrations
Preface
1. 'The largest Cornish communities beyond Land's End': Making Moonta's Cornish
myth
2. 'Wherever a hole is sunk in the ground': Moonta and Cornwall's great
emigration
3. The cult of Captain Hancock: The man and his mates
4. 'Cornwall was never conquered yet': Moonta's working-class heroes
5. 'Moonta toil and Moonta gain': Women, Methodists and the triumph over
adversity
6. 'Moonta's little, but she's great': The enduring myth
7. 'The world's largest Cornish festival': The myth revived
Epilogue
Notes
Index
