Looking over the original Iron Knob Mine with the township and Flinders Ranges in the background

Iron Knob (including Iron Monarch and Iron Princess)
Famous iron ore mining town
Iron Knob is located 68 km west of Port Augusta, 52 km northwest of Whyalla and 152 m above sea level in the heart of a semi-desert area (the annual rainfall is rarely more than 200mm) near the shores of the Spencer Gulf. It is not a particularly attractive town but what it lacks in savoir faire it makes up for in genuine interest. In recent years, as BHP have run their mining operations down in the area (there are now only 70 men working the mines at Iron Knob and Iron Monarch), the town (which was once administered by BHP) has been handed back to the local residents and they have had to deal with the complexities of local government and the establishment of revenue raising activities so that local services can be maintained.

The first European to pass through the Iron Knob area was Edward John Eyre who, in 1839, identified the area as having substantial deposits of ironstone and climbed one of the many local ironstone mountains - probably Iron Baron.

By 1854 pastoralists were established in the area and Cooroona Hill (now Corunna) Station had been established and Iron Knob (sometimes called Iron Nob) had been named - presumably as a description of the shape of the mountain which, although it is now 150 m lower than it was in 1880, still looms over the township.

Iron Knob is widely recognised as the first commercial iron ore mine in Australia. It was first exploited by Mount Minden Mining in 1880 but they couldn't keep up production or pay the rent and it was taken over by BHP who have run it continuously since 1899. BHP took over the lease in 1896 and started mining in 1899 when their smelters at Port Pirie required ironstone as a flux to smelt the silver-lead ores from Broken Hill. At the time, and really until the discovery of the huge iron reserves in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, the Iron Knob deposit was the largest in Australia. Until the 1960s all of BHP's major steelmaking operations - at Newcastle, Port Kembla, Port Pirie and Whyalla - were supplied with iron ore from the Iron Knob area.

It is important for visitors to understand that Iron Princess, Iron Monarch and Iron Knob are all one of the same in the sense that they are all connected to the town of Iron Knob but Iron Monarch is nothing more than a mine (without a community) and Iron Princess is a small mine located between Iron Knob and Corunna Station.

Anyone wanting to know more about the area should read the charming, hand printed, Looking Back: A History of Iron Knob written by Ada Casey and Marlene Cleasby with drawings by Stephen Stanley. It is available from the Tourist Centre.

Things to see:  

The open cut mine at Iron Monarch

Iron Knob Tours and the Tourist Centre
One of the ways in which the local community raises funds is by conducting tours of the mines which leave at 10.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. on weekdays and 2.00 p.m. on Sundays from the excellent Iron Knob Community Tourist Centre. The tours take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours and are followed by a 7 minute video and an inspection of a pictorial display of the history of the town. The Tourist Centre also sells interesting ironstone jewellery ranging from worry beads to expensive necklaces.

The tour, which is undertaken in the visitor's own car, is full of interesting and idiosyncratic information about the development of the mine and the growth of the town.

Part of the Community Tourist Centre has been developed as a Mining Museum. Old mining equipment and a large selection of mineral specimans are on display.

Leaving the Community Tourist Centre the tour passes the first home built for the BHP Employment Scheme in Iron Knob. The scheme allowed workers to buy their own homes by putting down a deposit of £50 and having £1 a week taken out of their pay until the house was paid off.

Corunna Station
On the way the guide points out Corunna Station on the foothills opposite the town. The station's moment of cinematic fame occurred in 1957 when it was used as one of the locations for The Sundowners which starred Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr.

	Tourist Information
	Iron Knob Community Tourist Centre P.O. Box 50 Iron Knob SA 5601 Telephone: (08) 8646 2129 Facsimile: (08) 8646 2122
	Motels
	Iron Knob Roadhouse Motel Eyre Hwy P.O. Box 41 Iron Knob SA 5601 Telephone: (08) 8646 2058 Rating: *
	Hotels
	Iron Knob Hotel Eyre Hwy Iron Knob SA 5601 Telephone: (08) 8646 2013 Rating: *
	Caravan Parks
	Nuttbush Retreat Pandurra Station Iron Knob SA 5601 Telephone: (08) 8643 8941 Email: nuttbush@ozemail.com.au Rating: ***1/2
	Restaurants
	Iron Knob Hotel Eyre Hwy Iron Knob SA 5601 Telephone: (08) 8646 2013
	Iron Knob Roadhouse Motel Eyre Hwy P.O. Box 41 Iron Knob SA 5601 Telephone: (08) 8646 2058