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| The Old
Bullock Dray at the end of the main
street |
Beltana
Superb semi-ghost town on the edge of the
desert
Located 540 km north of Adelaide and 240 m above
sea level, Beltana is one of the truly
remarkable outback settlements in South
Australia. Its refusal to lie down and die is a
source of amazement to anyone who visits this
semighost town.
Although it has the feeling of a ghost town,
Beltana is actually inhabited. Consequently most
of the houses have signs declaring 'Keep Out'.
This is undoubtedly because they are tired of
people assuming that the house is empty and
simply walking in.
No one knows exactly how Beltana was named.
One of the owners of the Beltana property
insisted it was a local Aboriginal word meaning
'running water'. One of Beltana's managers
believed it was simply made up to indicate the
place where the station bell was rung. There was
once a small village in Tasmania named Beltana
and another source claims it is a word of Irish
derivation which somehow captured a sense of
bravery and courage. Another source claims it
finds it roots in the Adnjamathanja (they are
believed to have been the original inhabitants
of the region) word 'veltana' meaning a skin or
cloak.
The area was inhabited by Aborigines prior to
European settlement. The good supplies of water
from the Warrioota and Sliding Rock Creeks and
the proliferation of red gums ensured that it
was a popular place for settlement.
With a couple of years of the settlement of
South Australia (in 1836) explorers and settlers
were in the area. The explorer Edward John Eyre
passed through the district in 1840 but his
reports were only of desert and disappointment.
By the late 1850s John McDouall Stuart had
passed through the area and it was as a result
of this that Beltana Station, owned by Thomas
Elder, was established so that sheep could be
grazed on the surrounding countryside. It was
from Beltana Station, a kind of limit of
civilisation, that many of the major
explorations of central and South Australia
started. Giles left from Beltana in 1872;
Warburton in 1873; Ross in 1874; Lewis in
1874-75 and Wells in 1883.
By the mid-1860s there was considerable
European activity in the district. Small mines,
searching for silver, lead and copper, had been
dug in the northern Flinders Ranges. In 1870
copper was discovered at Sliding Rock near
Warrioota Creek and, as a result, a Mr Martin
established an eating house on the road to and
from the mine.
In the same year the Overland Telegraph Line,
the line which would link Australia to the rest
of the world, was being built. It was to pass
from Adelaide to Darwin and it was decided that
Beltana would become one of the repeater
stations. The construction of the Overland
Telegraph was greatly helped by the camels which
has been imported in 1866 and which were being
bred at Thomas Elder's Beltana Station. Not
surprisingly the camels were accompanied by
Afghan camel drivers and a number of mud and
slate structures in the area have been
identified as Afghan residences.
In 1873 a town was surveyed and Martin's
eating house became the Beltana Hotel. It was
laid out in a simple grid system and 115
allotments were put up for sale. This was
optimistic. For its early years the town was
little more than the hotel and the repeater
station. Growth was slow. A policeman arrived in
1878
The town's future seemed assured when the
railway arrived in 1881. It became an important
railhead for the copper mines as well as for the
local sheep industry. At this time there were
some 70 residences and the town provided
services as diverse as a hospital, a saddler,
blacksmith, butcher, baker. The town boasted its
own cricket team and race meetings were
regularly held.
The town's greatest claim to fame, the
establishment of the Smith of Dunesk Mission,
occurred in 1895. This was opened by Reverend R.
Mitchell and one of the later clergymen was John
Flynn (he was in Beltana from 1911-12) who went
on to establish the Australian Inland Mission in
1914 and the Royal Flying Doctor service in
1928. It has long been maintained that Flynn got
his inspiration for both the Flying Doctor and
the AIM while he was in Beltana.
The population of the town had reached 400 by
the end of the nineteenth century. By 1911 it
had dropped to 192 and by 1933 to 101. The
reasons for the town's continued existence began
to evaporate. Coal was discovered at Leigh Creek
and the development of the new township meant
that there was a more modern centre in the
district. The railway line was moved.
By the 1960s Beltana had lost its hospital,
policeman, school, railway and there really was
little reason for its continued existence. Still
it persisted although by 1984 the population was
down to only nine people.
Today it is a superb example of a 'living'
ghost town full of excellent photo
opportunities.
Things to see:
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Beltana Trails
The best book on the town, in fact a vital
accompaniment to any serious exploration of the
district, is Graham Aird's Beltana Trails which
is available from the Railway Station (which is
now the Tourist Information Office) in Beltana.
The following is a brief description of the
town's highlights as identified by Graham Aird.
Railway Station
The railway station was completed in 1881. It
was an indication of the town's future at the
time being a large stone building with a smaller
stone building nearby where the standby crews
used to stay the night. The steepness of the
climb through Puttapa Gap meant that when coal
was discovered and mined at Leigh Creek a new
route was sought. In 1956 the Leigh Creek line
was opened and the Beltana Railway Station was
closed down.
The road from Beltana to Parachilna runs
beside the old railway line. There are many
remnants of old railway stations, bridges across
creeks and straight stretches where the railway
used to run.
Police Station
A mounted policeman was appointed to Beltana in
1879 and this stone building was completed in
1881. It is a typical building of its time with
walls that are 450 mm thick and doors which are
55 mm thick. It was closed in 1958 and is now
privately owned.
Post and Telegraph Office
When Beltana's public telegraph office was
opened on 23 August, 1872 it was nothing more
than a small iron hut. The proper Beltana
Telegraph Station, with a 2 metre fence, was
completed in 1875 and used until the government
sold it in 1940. It was eventually purchased in
1979 and slowly restored to its original
condition.
Lookout Point
At the edge of town it offers the best view
across the town and provides a good view of the
Flinders Ranges.
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| The Old
School House with windmills behind it
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Old school
The first school in Beltana was opened in 1878
to serve the town's 31 children. It was a simple
wooden building which had been transported from
Sliding Rock. This small stone building was
probably first used in 1894. The school
eventually closed in 1967 when a school bus
began carrying the local students to the school
at Leigh Creek.
Smith of Dunesk Mission Church
The history of this mission is that Henrietta
Smith purchased a number of lots of land in
South Australia and gave them to the Church of
Scotland. She wanted the money to be used
spreading the gospel. By 1893 the asset had a
value of £3000 and Rev Robert Mitchell,
anticipating Flynn of the Inland by more than 20
years, set up an Inland Mission at Beltana in
1895. This mission became known as the Smith of
Dunesk Mission.
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| The Smith of
Dunesk (precursor of the Flying Doctor)
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Old Bullock Dray
The Old Bullock Dray at the end of the main
street - it is surrounded by saltbush. It is a 4
wheel dray which was once pulled by a team of 18
donkeys. It used to carry firewood.
