Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/472

 446 adelaidp: and vicinity Mine-Superintendent H. R. Hancock THE richness of her copper deposits i^ave South AustraHa a world-wide reputation in bygone days. A certain amount of romance attaches to the discovery of each of the principal mining districts, the element of chance having proved a prominent feature in each case. In 1845 the famed Hurra Hurra mines were discovered by a shepherd tending his tlock, and history repeated itself in 1859 and 1861, when shepherds found the Wallaroo and Moonta Mines respectively. How large an influence these discoveries, and the subsequent development of the mines, have had on the prosperity of South Australia it would be hard to estimate ; but it is easy to say that they have been material factors in the advancement of the P rovmce. It is with the Wallaroo and Moonta Mines that the name of Captain H. K. Hancock, pre- eminently the leading man in the copper-mining industry in South Australia, is identified. For 34 years he was Superintendent of the Moonta Mines, and for 22 years of the Wallaroo Mines; and during his long residence on Yorke Fen.'nsula his work was of para- mount importance to the com- munity at large. To deal fully with those 34 years of his life would demand a history of the two great mines. Apart from mining and scientific inventions. Captain Hancock has been engaged in valuable work in philanthropic, religious, and social circles; and when he left Yorke Peninsula in October, 1898, the residents lost a leader of men in all movements tending to the common good, besides a veritable captain of industry. Henry Richard Hancock was born in 1836 in one of the copper-mining districts of Devon, about five miles from the borders of Cornwall, so that he was practically reared in the industry from his birth. He engaged in copper-mining in his youth, beginning at the lowest rung, and working gradually up the ladder. At the age of 23 he came to Hammer tS-^ Co., Photo