18 October 1929        Henry Collins

Henry Collins of Mount Bryan died on 18 October 1929 at the age of 97 years. His family came to South Australia when he was seven and his first job was as a shepherd boy in Adelaide. The family moved to Burra where they lived in one of the dug-outs in the Burra Creek and Henry worked in the mine while still very young. He managed to save enough money to buy a dray and bullock team and began carrying loads between Burra and Port Adelaide. After an unsuccessful trip to the Victorian goldfields he married, at 24, and had a family of 16 children. For a time the couple lived in a tent at Iron Mine, west of Burra, while Henry carried loads or iron ore for flux to the Burra smelters. In 1859 he bought two 80 acre sections and grew wheat while still carting various items. When the price of wheat fell he turned to sheep farming. This was the beginning of the now world famous Collinsville Merino Stud which was established by a son, John Collins, in 1895. Unfortunately this property, with its record-priced rams, was sold to West Australian interests some years ago.

Ian Auhl, The Story of the ‘Monster’ Mine, Investigator Press, 1986, p.420.