The town's centre is about south west of Kadina, site of Wallaroo Mines, and south of the port of Wallaroo. There are 11 suburbs surrounding central Moonta, each being a distinct historic locality or hamlet. These are: Cross Roads, East Moonta, Hamley, Kooroona, Moonta Bay, Moonta Mines, North Moonta, North Yelta, Paramatta, Port Hughes and Yelta. At the 2011 census, the Moonta township and the adjacent suburbs of Cross Roads and Yelta had a combined population of 681. The broader Moonta urban centre, also including Moonta Bay, North Moonta and Port Hughes, had a population of 3,659. By 2016, the area had grown to a population of 4,700, making it the fastest growing area on the Copper Coast.
History
Aboriginal
The Moonta area is part of the traditional lands of the indigenous Narungga people. The name "Moonta" is reportedly derived from munta-muntara or moontera, an Aboriginal word for "thick scrub place" or "impenetrable scrub".
European
The Yorke Peninsula coastline near Wallaroo was separately navigated by Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin in 1802. The next Europeans to explore the district were John Hill and Thomas Burr. Under instructions from Governor Gawler, the pair were landed about 15 kilometres south of Point Riley, near Moonta Bay, on 28 April 1840 from the government cutter Water Witch. They then made their way back to Adelaide on horseback, traversing Northern Yorke Peninsula. They reported the discovery of 'a very excellent tract of country'. Based on that report a few pioneering British settlers arrived in the Moonta area in the 1840s, as pastoralists, but there was no significant development until the 1860s, primarily because of the lack of water. The scrub in the area was difficult to penetrate so the first settlers had a hard time clearing the land. Large and rich deposits of copper were discovered at Moonta in 1861 by Patrick Ryan, a shepherd from Walter Hughes' property. This became a prosperous mine, named Wheal Hughes, with other mines soon to follow. The government town of Moonta was surveyed in March 1863, while an informal township of mining workers also grew at Moonta Mines. A horse tramway from Moonta to the port at Wallaroo opened in July 1866. Starting in the 1880s, agitation for conversion of the horse tramway to a steam locomotive railway commenced. Following advertising by the South Australian Government, Cornish miners arrived in Moonta in large numbers. The government town of Moonta incorporated as the Corporate Town of Moonta in 1872. The mines at Moonta proved to be the richest mines in the whole of South Australia by 1917, exceeding the total wealth created by all other mines since 1836, the year of establishment of South Australia. The population of Moonta in 1875 was 12,000. The main copper mining operations at Moonta Mines ceased in 1923, although a number of smaller mines continued to be worked for some years. Smaller-scale operations recommenced in the area in the late 1980s but had closed by the mid-1990s. Following the demise of copper mining, the district successfully merged into dry land farming. Moonta's surrounds are used for growing barley, wheat and other crops such as legumes, canola, chickpeas and field peas. Barley from the region is considered to be some of the best in the world.
Moonta exists in a semi-arid location, above Goyder's Line. Moonta is surrounded by mallee scrub. The centre is located four kilometres inland and is 20 metres above sea level. Moonta has a dry Mediterranean climate with seasonal temperatures about the same as Adelaide's temperatures. The temperature ranges are similar to those of Kadina and the weather patterns are similar to those of both Kadina and Adelaide.
Local economy
Tourism is a significant local industry, focusing on the availability of beach-side accommodation, including several caravan parks, holiday houses, bed and breakfast and a motel. The nearby locations of Moonta Bay, Port Hughes and Simms Cove are on the foreshore and are rapidly developing. They are extremely popular locations for retirement and holiday makers. The beaches, with fine white sand, are popular with recreational anglers and sailboarders. The natural state of the coast has largely been retained. The popular three-day Kernewek Lowender Cornish festival is also held every odd year in May in the Copper Coast towns of Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo, with events staged across the three towns over several days. The National Trust of South Australia operates a number of heritage attractions in adjacent Moonta Mines, including a narrow gauge railway through the former mining works, a museum in the former Moonta Mines Model School, a sweet shop, former mining cottage and surviving buildings associated with the mines. The former Moonta railway station is now a visitor information centre.
Moonta was served by ThePeople’s Weekly. The newspaper was then renamed to Moonta People’s Weekly, which then merged with the Kadina and Wallaroo Times to form the short-lived Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta Times. In 1968 that paper then merged with the South Australian Farmer to form the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, which still serves the entire peninsula.
