Map the Miner

Map the Miner is an 8-metre tall roadside statue at the southern entrance to Kapunda in the Light Regional Council area, about 80 km north of Adelaide, South Australia. Erected in 1988 as an Australian Bicentenary project, it commemorates the Cornish and other miners who worked Kapunda's copper mine, Australia's first successful commercial copper mine operated from 1844. The fibreglass figure holding a pick is one of Australia's well-known Big Things.

Visitors can expect a large freestanding miner statue on a plinth set in a small landscaped reserve with a sealed parking bay off Thiele Highway. The open, flat grassed area allows close viewing and photography of the statue from all sides. Interpretive signage explains Kapunda's copper mining history and Cornish heritage. There is no enclosed building or ticketed entry; it is a brief roadside stop at the town gateway near the historic Kapunda Mine site.

Commemorates the Kapunda copper mine, discovered in 1842 by Charles Bagot and Francis Dutton and opened in 1844 as Australia's first successful commercial copper mine. The mine attracted significant Cornish migration in the 1840s-1850s and established Kapunda as an early mining town. The statue, erected in 1988 as a Bicentenary project, honours the Cornish miners - 'Map' meaning 'son' in Cornish - and their contribution to South Australia's mining history.

Serves as a cultural symbol of Kapunda's Cornish heritage and mining identity. It is a community landmark and part of Australia's Big Things tradition, representing pride in the town's origins as a copper mining centre and its ongoing heritage tourism focus.