PHYSICAL ARTEFACTS AND INTANGIBLE ATTRIBUTES OF RADIUM HILL’s CULTURAL HERITAGE

The following items form part of the cultural heritage of Radium Hill:

The ruins of the town site remain as evidence of the workers who developed South Australia’s first commercially viable uranium mining venture and the State’s only extant early post-war mining town. No expense was spared in developing the mine and town-ship to meet the controlling Project’s,International Government consortium’s(Great Britain, United States, Australian and Sth. Australian Governments) demand for uranium, the only such town developed by the consortium in Australia.

  1. Arthur Smith monument recognising the prospector who found the initial uranium orebody.
  2. Radium Hill Heritage Museum:- housing the collection of Radium Hill artefacts and memorabilia.
  3. Town layout : map depicting a typical Government hierarchical town layout located on elevation contours, the highest contour house site was the General Manager’s, above the senior section heads, staff housing, married daily paid and single worker’s quarters, surrounding central sporting and shopping facilities.
  4. The Radium Hill uranium mining reserve was first surveyed in 1951 and the Trig Points verified by survey in 2011/15. (over a four year period by the RHHA surveyor)
  5. The town boasted 160 houses and 220 x two man cubicles.
  6. Eighty former house occupants have had name plaques installed at their old house site.
  7. Artefacts of the houses still existing include; house front step, rear ‘wet area’ concrete slab, rain water tank stand, beer bottle and boulder bordered garden beds, sewerage pits and gravel driveways. In the single worker’s quarters are the mounting piers for the two man cubicles and central ablutions building slabs.
  8. Ten former Government/Commercial identities have had name plaques installed at the site of their former premises, including the A.I.M. 5 bed Hospital.
  9. Sixteen metal “THEN AND NOW” historic interpretive photographic plaques have been installed at the relevant sites around the town.
  10. Physical sporting artefacts include tennis courts, golf course ‘greens’ and fairways, football/cricket oval, swimming pool, and rifle range butts.
  11. Catholic Church walls comprising 42,000 bricks hand made by volunteers. (Saved from demolition by divine intervention). Brick ruins of the VIP staff quarters.
  12. For many overseas migrants, Radium Hill was their first home in Australia.
  13. Many overseas migrants were ‘Naturalised’at a local ceremony, whilst living in Radium Hill.
  14. During the life of the mine, the bodies of twelve residents were interred in the Cemetery and since that time the Radium Hill Historical Assn. has interred the ashes and mounted headstone/ plaques for twenty-eight other former residents who wished that their remains be buried at that location.
  15. Many aspects of the intangible heritage of Radium Hill have been recorded in the books; “We Were Radium Hill”, “Off The Barrier Highway” and the DVD, “The Way We Were”.
  16. During Easter of each year a reunion is held at Radium Hill by former residents where concerts, Drive-in movies, sporting events and social activities are performed to re-create the 1950’s mining era of Radium Hill. They consider Radium Hill to be their sacred site......
  17. President RHHAI ;Kevin R Kakoschke OAM 18/10/2015