wildstar, Author at Awesome Adelaide – Page 27 of 48

February 8, 2015

Urban Exploring: The Apostles Tunnel

We had a number of failed missions last year to find this tunnel. Information about its location was scarce. A much needed tip-off directed our search to a new, nearby area and in early November we found it. Elated we marked it on our maps for future visits.

The Apostles Tunnel was rock-blasted back in the 1920’s. Its purpose was to hold a large water main which transferred water from an up-stream reservoir down to the higher levels of suburban Adelaide. It became redundant with the commissioning of the Anstey Hill Water Treatment Plant in 1991 and the pipe was removed leaving large concrete supports that now line the tunnel.

No longer in use, The Apostles Tunnel lays forgotten within the side of a mountain. Off the beaten track, we take you underground so you too can see inside this dark and evasive tunnel…

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January 14, 2015

Urban Exploring: Metro Meats

After opening in the early 1950’s, Metro Meats grew to be one of the most successful slaughterhouses in South Australia. Part of its success was attributed to a landmark court battle between itself and the state government where it won the right to export meat overseas; effectively ending the monopoly held by the MEAB Gepps Cross abattoir. Consequently, Metro Meats was able to build a substantial export market penetrating into the United States and China.

Metro became a household name and a major buyer of livestock at saleyards throughout South Australia. It was sold in the 1980s to Chinese interests after which it made steady losses and eventually closed in the late 1990’s.

It now sits in ruin slowly being transformed by its new owner. You can still see the remains of the livestock walkway, the killing floor and the cold rooms. But for how long???…

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December 27, 2014

Urban Exploring: The Explosives Factory

Early in World War II four ammunitions factories were constructed around Adelaide, The Explosives Factory being one of them. At the time it was the largest explosives factory in Australia, built to produce explosives for Allied Forces.

The three buildings photographed now sit abandoned and dilapidated however they played an important part in the explosives construction. They were devoted to the construction of caps and detonators.

All explosive compounds require a certain amount of energy to detonate. If an explosive is too sensitive, it may go off unexpectedly, so most explosives are formulated to be stable and safe to handle and will not explode if accidentally dropped or mishandled. However, such explosives are hard to detonate, and require a small initiating explosion. A detonator cap is built to contain this easy-to-ignite explosive providing enough initial activation energy to start detonation.