The
Kuridala Cemetary is worth a visit , to read some of the headstones and realise how hard some of the
young Miners must have endured
From
Cloncurry travel a short distance west on the
Barkly Highway and take the
Duchess turn-off south to Malbon. Take the turn-off here to Selwyn and travel about 32km to
Kuridala. There are no facilities at
Kuridala so visitors need to be self sufficient.
Amethyst crystals occur in vein deposits about 8km from the
ruins of
Kuridala townsite and smelter. Restricted Area (RA 243) covers the 64ha site. A 'general permission' has been given by the land owner for
fossicking and camping.
There were two main mines at
Kuridala, the Hampden-
Cloncurry and the Hampden Consols worked to depth of 180 and 140 metres each. The
Mount Elliott Company was buying the latter in 1912. Copper was first found at
Kuridala in l884 but mining did not commence until 1897. High copper prices in 1905 - 1907 helped establish the field and another boost to the mines was received in 1910, when the railway was opened from
Cloncurry. A four-month Typhoid epidemic occurred in 1911.