hotel was a temporary wooden structure erected at the entrance to the township of Kooringa in mid-1846, and the first permanent hotel was the Burra Hotel (opened 25 September 1847) built by William Paxton, a SAMA director and original owner of Ayers House. The Burra Hotel became the town's first public hospital in 1878 and was demolished in 1968. Burra's first parliamentary representative was George Strickland "Paddy" Kingston who was elected in 1851 to the first legislative council as member for Burra and Clare, and for the same area to the house of assembly in its first parliament of 1857. Piped water was supplied from 1884 from the flooded and abandoned Bon Accord Mine with water reaching 100 houses by 1885. This was the primary source for Burra until 1966 when it was replaced with water piped from the Murray River. The Burra received its first supply of electricity on 27 March 1924 from the newly formed Burra electric supply company. The historic Burra neighbourhoods of Kooringa, Llwchwr, Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, and Graham ceased to be separately recognised and were included as part of Burra township proper in July 1940. Redruth was renamed "Burra North" at that time; it would eventually be merged with Burra as well. Burra's population has declined from a peak of 5,000 in 1851 to a present figure of approximately 1,000. The dramatic decrease at the end of mining inhibited expansion and helped preserve many of the original buildings and houses. The District Council of Burra was proclaimed in 1872, the Town Corporation in 1876 and in 1969 the District Council and Town Corporation were amalgamated. Townships Redruth Redruth was a government township formed in 1850 to break SAMA's monopoly. It is named after Redruth in Cornwall and its streets are named after Cornish mining towns. The township was the site of all original government buildings (courthouse, gaol and police station). The courthouse was erected in 1857, and Redruth Gaol, built in 1856, was the first country gaol in South Australia. From 1897 to 1922, the gaol was used as a girls' reformatory. SAMA delayed building in Redruth when they bought 77 of the 120 lots on offer at the initial land auction, paying almost 20 times the overall reserve price. Kooringa Kooringa was the first company township in Australia and, until the closure of the mine, was maintained as a strictly company-run town. The township's