Kapunda High School

Kapunda High School building, once owned by the Kidman family, ravaged by fire. Firefighters didn't have enough water to tackle a massive blaze that ripped through Kapunda High's historic “heart and soul” - a heritage building donated ...

A heritage-listed building in a country high school once owned by the esteemed Kidman family was ravaged by fire overnight.

Fire has gutted a building that was once the home of famous pastoralist Sir Sidney Kidman.

"[Firefighters] approached the fire to try and knock it out but were hampered by limited water supplies up here. Experts from Adelaide will visit the scene to investigate. "I invested a lot of time as a teacher and as a history teacher to understand the significance of the building in terms of local history, even state history or national history, given that Kidman was such a significant figure," he said. Kidman, known as the "Cattle King", donated the building — which suffered extensive damage in a fire in 1902 — to the education department in the 1920s. "It was like a small, little fire and then it just gradually grew and got bigger, and then when it hit Eringa there were massive clouds of smoke and stuff, and then the roof caved in," one student said. A former teacher says he has been left "heartbroken" by the destruction of a historic school building that was once the home of pioneering pastoralist Sir Sidney Kidman, but has now been gutted by fire.