The Adnyamathanha and other Aboriginal people were the first inhabitants of the Beltana region which still has strong traditional associations for them.
Pastoralists arrived in the mid 1850s. Beltana, as a township dates from1870 with the development of the Overland Telegraph line and the discovery of copper ore at Sliding Rock, 20 kilometres to the east of the town.
The town’s heyday came in the 1880s with the arrival of the Transcontinental Railway (1881). Beltana became a construction camp and railhead until the line reached Marree.
In 1876, an Act was passed for a railway of 200 miles from Port Augusta to Government Gums (later Farina). This was the first stage of the Great Northern Railway, later known as “The Afghan Express”- and later still “The Ghan”. On 2 July 1881 the line was completed to Beltana and a special free train load of guests arrived from Adelaide, via Peterborough and Orroroo. The wife of the postmaster at Beltana, Mrs Blood, declared the second section of the line open as she smashed a bottle of champagne on the fender of the engine. A railway station, goods shed, train crew quarters and a five million gallon dam were built.
Following speeches the crowd hurried to the decorated town. In the evening a ball was held and attended by many of the visitors. One point made during speeches was the fact that the railway reduced the time of supply deliveries from 3 weeks to 12 hours.
The original plan was for the railway to pass through Beltana town, going to Sliding Rock copper mine. By the time the railway arrived, the mine had closed and the line was re-directed. The railway provided employment for the townspeople, mainly fettlers. During the 1940s, 64 trains passed through Beltana each week. In addition to normal services, extra trains were for coal travelling south and troop trains and supplies going north for war-threatened Darwin.
The decline of Beltana came after Leigh Creek began coal production in 1941. In 1956 the railway was realigned, and when in 1983 the road was also realigned, Beltana’s last businesses closed.
Beltana is now sparsely populated and remains, with building ruins, a stop on the Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail.
In 1987 the town of Beltana was declared a State Heritage Area in recognition of its significance as a link with South Australia’s history. Aboriginal and European cultures alike regard Beltana as an important place in their history.
