Michelle Daw, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

For 12 years, Marie Heesemans has cleaned and cared for the buildings housing some of Moonta’s much-loved heritage attractions – the Moonta Mines Museum, Miner’s Cottage and Family History and Resource Centre in the former School of Mines.

Now all she can do is hope the buildings – and the precious items they house – are not falling into disrepair.

Since February 23, the three buildings, along with the Sweet Shop and tourist railway, have been closed almost every day after the National Trust of SA suspended the Moonta NT branch committee and locked out about 110 volunteers.

Mrs Heesemans, a permanent part-time employee of NTSA, has also been locked out, apart from a one-off session to clean the museum before it reopened temporarily over Easter.

Her links to Cornish migrants who came to Australia in search of a better life date back to 1865, when her great-great-great-grandparents, Richard and Rachel Guy, arrived on the Queen Bee and settled in the Copper Coast area.

Mrs Heesemans is also related to the Wood family, who built and lived in what became Miner’s Cottage.

Like many local families, descendants of both the Guy and Wood families have donated items to the cottage, which Mrs Heesemans says requires constant care and maintenance.

Typical of cottages built by miners using whatever materials they could obtain, it lacks foundations and once had dirt floors, making it vulnerable to cracking, salt damp and pests.

Mrs Heesemans said the interior and exterior walls crumble or “fret”, window frames need repairs, and mice and rats have been a constant worry – issues she and volunteers had monitored and addressed.

They blocked holes to stop vermin entering and laid poison baits.

But Mrs Heesemans fears that without constant vigilance – and with mice numbers increasing in nearby grain paddocks – vermin will return and damage artefacts including clothes, linen and furnishings.

“They come in under the bricks, they get in the bed and they die in it,” she said.

“There are some baits on dishes hidden away, so they die in there and the smell is horrendous.”

Mrs Heesemans is also concerned about display items in the museum’s recreated shop fronts, including donated wedding gowns, leather shoes and boots, as well as books, maps and documents held at the museum and history centre.

She said she often worked beyond her designated seven-and-a-half hours a week to keep the attractions in the best possible condition.

“The money (wages) part’s not the important part – it’s the cleaning that’s for the community and for the visitors, because the buildings are showcases to the world,” she said.

“For a head office, it’s inappropriate behaviour, what they (NTSA) have done.

“I’m deeply disappointed in all of this.”

Mrs Heesemans said the garden surrounding Miner’s Cottage was still being well maintained by local volunteers.

NTSA was contacted for comment regarding maintenance of the Moonta properties.

Sweet support for fighting fund

The team from the Moonta Mines Sweet Shop are supporting the Moonta Fighting Fund in their own sweet way.

They will donate the entire $1681 raised at their stall at the Moonta Queen Square Market on Sunday, June 7, after almost selling out.

The group of six former Sweet Shop volunteers, along with former manager Deb Phillips, sold homemade treats including “spuds” (balls of shredded coconut rolled in cocoa), fudge, rocky road and mixed lolly bags. Mrs Phillips said the takings were “over and above” the $1000 she expected the stall to make.

Ingredients and materials were funded through ongoing sales at Gifted Artisan in George Street, Moonta, and she thanked the store’s management for its support.

Apart from a brief Easter reopening, the Sweet Shop at Moonta Mines has been closed since February 23 following the suspension of the National Trust of South Australia Moonta branch committee. Mrs Phillips also criticised comments attributed to NTSA chief executive Nicolette di Lernia in the Australian Financial Review on June 6.

Ms di Lernia was quoted as saying the trust was “just waiting for them to run out of puff”.

“This group of volunteers are still out there – they’re still doing what they love,” Mrs Phillips said.

“They’re troopers and I just can’t say enough about them.

“We’re not running out of puff.

“The whole community is involved in this, and it’s been brilliant.

“We had people that came to the stall and said, ‘I don’t want to buy anything, but here’s a $50 donation’.”

The Sweet Shop team is planning further fundraising activities, with a focus on the school holidays. Mrs Phillips said she resigned from her paid role with National Trust of South Australia in early February because of concerns about management.

This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 10 June 2026.
Related stories: Call for calm, Moonta Mines shutdown sparks local outcry – Dis-trust, Heritage hijacked – Moonta National Trust volunteers “locked out”