John Haines' Beltana run was later in the vicinity and probably named after the Aboriginal word for running waters.
Later, copper mining, the Australian Overland Telegraph Line and The Ghan railway were important to the area's development.
An oral story belonging to the Kuyani, and other clans, relates two Mura-mura youths, coming from the north and travelling through the land and introducing the use of the stone knife for circumcision.
"The Yuri-ulu travelled, coming from, the north, through all the land, bringing in the use of the Tula (stone tool) in circumcision. Thus they came to the Beltana country, at a time when a youth was about to be made into a man. When the men were going to burn him with fire, the Yuri-ulu went into the earth, the one on his right and the other on his left, waiting for the moment when they could help him. When a man approached with a red-hot fire-stick to perform the operation, the two Yuri-ulu rose out of the earth, and instantly cutting off the foreskin with their Tula, sank back into the ground invisibly. The men who were present were astonished at the fresh wound, and saw that the boy had been circumcised. They questioned each other as to who had done it, but no one could say. The feeling was such, that they began to say to each other, "Didst thou do this? or thou? or who?" and to grasp their weapons, when he who was about to have done the operation said that he would find out the cause. Seating himself on the ground, and striking it with a club, he sang continuously that he who had circumcised the boy should come forth. Then the Yuri-ulu rose out of the earth biting their long beards, and each holding a Tula in his hand before him."
Then, properly painted and adorned, they danced, and having given the Tula to the men, whom they admonished as if they had been youths, they disappeared, followed by the praises of the assembled men.After showing themselves in many places as life-givers, they turned back, and at Katitandra,one went west, and the other went east and northwards, bringing the Tula to every tribe.
Thus they still wander, showing themselves at times as living, and as life-givers. Read more
Canoe Tree
John Bull, a former gold miner, who was working as a stockman for the Chamber brothers, made the first discovery in 1857 of copper in the Northern Flinders, along the Warrioota Creek near Beltana Station. The Oratunga mine, located on the southern boundary of Moolooloo station, was the first of the copper discoveries. Other discoveries followed, including, Blinman, Daly and Mount McKinlay.
Signs of silver in the Northern Flinders Ranges were also, found in 1869 near Beltana.
A Mrs. R. Lewis who was a Beltana Staition said:
"......when the train first steamed into Beltana. The country is
hilly, and the blacks climbed to a hill
top and crouched down with fear at
the sight of the great black engine (or
"black moora").
In those days blackfellows came from
Central Australia, almost at Parachilna,
for red ochre. It was not uncommon
to see 200 natives on the trade route, at
a time, and the tribes from far off
were sometimes hostile."
The Royal Victoria Hotel, Beltana, existed from 1879 to 1887 and then again from 1891 to 1957. At the time of this photograph, the proprietor was Mrs Mary Harvey, who may be one of the women at front of the Hotel. The hotel was built on land which was purchased in 1878.
1890s
Photograph of a group of men standing at the front of a large stone building. A tall wooden crane stands nearby loading bales of wool onto a cart. Caption reads 'Shearers. Beltana.' Approximately 1897, SLSA
1900s
The Kuyani and Adnyamathanha People
The Kuyani and Adnyamathanha people camped around the Beltana area before the arrival of Europeans. These groups are also connected by kinship, trade and ceremonial connections. Research also shows that Adnyamathanha, Kuyani and Barngarla langauges (Thura-Yura languages ), were mutually intelligible, at least near their margins (see more)
An oral story belonging to the Kuyani, and other clans, relates two Mura-mura youths, coming from the north and travelling through the land and introducing the use of the stone knife for circumcision.
"The Yuri-ulu travelled, coming from, the north, through all the land, bringing in the use of the Tula (stone tool) in circumcision. Thus they came to the Beltana country, at a time when a youth was about to be made into a man. When the men were going to burn him with fire, the Yuri-ulu went into the earth, the one on his right and the other on his left, waiting for the moment when they could help him. When a man approached with a red-hot fire-stick to perform the operation, the two Yuri-ulu rose out of the earth, and instantly cutting off the foreskin with their Tula, sank back into the ground invisibly. The men who were present were astonished at the fresh wound, and saw that the boy had been circumcised. They questioned each other as to who had done it, but no one could say. The feeling was such, that they began to say to each other, "Didst thou do this? or thou? or who?" and to grasp their weapons, when he who was about to have done the operation said that he would find out the cause. Seating himself on the ground, and striking it with a club, he sang continuously that he who had circumcised the boy should come forth. Then the Yuri-ulu rose out of the earth biting their long beards, and each holding a Tula in his hand before him."
Then, properly painted and adorned, they danced, and having given the Tula to the men, whom they admonished as if they had been youths, they disappeared, followed by the praises of the assembled men.After showing themselves in many places as life-givers, they turned back, and at Katitandra,one went west, and the other went east and northwards, bringing the Tula to every tribe.
Thus they still wander, showing themselves at times as living, and as life-givers. Read more
According to Samuel T Gason, who joined the South Australian Police force in 1864 and who wrote a book in 1873, about the local Aboriginal people, their customs and language; another custom called Wilyaru (Willyaroo), was also practised commonly by those speaking Thura-Yura languages.
"....first of all, blood is poured over the novice from the arms of older men, after which he is laid on the ground and cut on the neck and shoulders with a flint, whereby scars are raised showing that he has passed through the ceremony. After the latter is over he is given “a piece of wood about nine inches long, by two and a half wide, and about a sixteenth of an inch thick, with a hole at one end.” After the latter is over he is given “a piece of wood about nine inches long, by two and a half wide, and about a sixteenth of an inch thick, with a hole at one end.”
An Aboriginal group, ca. 1868 [picture] / Courret Hermanos succesores de Maunoury Corresponsel de la Casa, Nadar de Paris, Purchased at Lawson Menzies Auction, 2005.Libraries Australia |
Aboriginal Australian wearing traditional paint for a Corroboree, circa 1859, In collection: (Album compiled by Sir Henry Barkly) |
Aboriginal woman and infant of South Australia, circa 1871, SLSA |
Canoe Tree
A canoe tree, also called scarred tree or scar tree and shield tree, is a tree which has had bark removed by Aboriginal Australians for making bark canoes, shelters, weapons such as shields, tools, traps, containers (such as coolamons) or other artefacts.
On his trek into the region, Eyre described Lake Torrens as a "desolate and forbidding shore". And from the heights of Mt. Deception (19km to the west), Eyre looked to the north to see "a cheerless-looking waste". Eyre named the rise Mount Deception, as he found that it was deceptive in seeming to promise freshwater supplies.
Beltana Run
1840s
The first explorers in the Beltana area were Edward John Eyre in 1840 and Charles Sturt in 1845. Eyre and Sturt were not too impressed with the region, however.
A carte-de-visite portrait of Edward John Eyre, circa 1860 |
John Haines established Beltana run on the land around Warioota Creek by 1855. The land was also surveyed by John McDouall Stuart in 1855.
Robert Barr Smith acquired the property with its 17,705 sheep in 1862. By 1867 Thomas Elder amalgamated the property with Samuel Stuckey's property to form Beltana station.
In 1866, Elder and Stuckey imported about 123 camels and Afghan drivers to begin breeding camels and to transport equipment to and from the copper mines in the Flinders Ranges and ore to Port Augusta.
1850s: Finding Gold
James Chambers and his friend William Finke worked the mine for a short time and founded the "Great Northern Copper Mining Company". The floating of the Great Northern Mining Company on the London Stock Exchange in 1860 was notable for irregularities, shady deals, deception and outright fraud. The dubious contents of a prospectus of this company sparked a government inquiry.
1870s: First Building
Martin's Eating House was an "eating house" and general store, which was built about 1871, before the town was surveyed in 1873.
The Beltana township was surveyed in 1873 and the repeater station was built by 1875.
A mounted policeman was appointed at Beltana in 1879, assisted by an Aboriginal tracker.
1880s: Railway Arrives
The Great Northern Railway Line to Beltana opened in 1881, with a station building constructed with stone. To the north of the station, another stone building was used by the staff. The train service from Beltana to Port Augusta ran three times a week. The journey took about 12 hours.
By the 1940s, 64 trains per week were passing through Beltana along the Marree-Oodnadatta-Alice Springs rail-line.
When copper was discovered at Sliding Rock in 1870, sparking an influx of miners coming into the region, the first house was built at Beltana– of pug and pine –located where the road branched off to the mines at Sliding Rock.
Eating house at Beltana, SA, Photograph 1930 |
The original house was built of vertical pine logs, plugged with mud and white-washed. But it was replaced with a stone building, built in front of the old building about 1874, when it became a licensed hotel, built on the road to the mine at Warioota Creek. The location at the creek crossing was also the site selected for a repeater station for the Overland Telegraph, which reached Beltana by 1871.
The Beltana township was surveyed in 1873 and the repeater station was built by 1875.
Overland Telegraph Construction party - Charles Todd third from left c 1872, SLSA |
The Ernest Giles Expedition
Ernest Giles, the Australian explorer who led five major expeditions to parts of South Australia and Western Australia, reached Elder's station at Beltana in 1875 on his third expedition.
Whilst at Beltana, Giles made preparations for his fourth journey. With a caravan of camels, managed by Afghan cameleer Mahomet Saleh, Giles set off and reached Port Augusta on 23 May.
Ernest Giles' expedition party for his fourth expedition, which started in May 1875. Standing, from left to right: Peter Nicholls, Alex Ross, Saleh. Seated: Jess Young, Ernest Giles, W. H. Tietkens. Sitting on ground: Tommy Oldham. |
The population grew at Beltana after the the nearby Sliding Rock copper mine failed due to being inundated by underground water in 1877.
Telephone
In 1878 a telephone call was transmitted between Beltana Telegraph Station and Strangeway Springs.
By the 1940s, 64 trains per week were passing through Beltana along the Marree-Oodnadatta-Alice Springs rail-line.
Photograph of a steam train at Beltana, identified as a 'narrow guage locomotive', with three men standing on the train, Approximately 1897, SLSA |
"......when the train first steamed into Beltana. The country is
hilly, and the blacks climbed to a hill
top and crouched down with fear at
the sight of the great black engine (or
"black moora").
In those days blackfellows came from
Central Australia, almost at Parachilna,
for red ochre. It was not uncommon
to see 200 natives on the trade route, at
a time, and the tribes from far off
were sometimes hostile."
Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 13 June 1925
The Royal Victoria Hotel
Photograph of a stone building with men and women standing by the verandah, identified as the 'Royal Victoria Hotel, Beltana. 1897-98'. Approximately 1897, SLSAPhotograph of a stone building with men and women standing by the verandah, identified as the 'Royal Victoria Hotel, Beltana. 1897-98'. Approximately 1897, SLSA |
Photograph of a stone building with a man, woman and two children at the front gate. Identified as the 'Police St. Beltana. 1897-98'. SLSA |
In 1880s Beltana had its own brewery, general store and a school. The population settled at about 150 and stayed around this level for some years.
Photograph of two women, assumed to be Agnes Mitchell and Emma Strapps, sitting on a camel with an open landscape behind. Caption reads 'At Beltana'. Approximately 1897, SLSA |
James Heneker and Mary-Ann Heneker (nee Spencer) standing outside a cottage in Beltana. Approximately 1897, SLSA |
Photograph of a stone building with a sign reading 'T.M.Buttfield Beltana Cash Store' at the top. Approximately 1897, SLSA |
In the 1890s the Presbyterians established a mission at Beltana. The Rev. Robert Mitchell rented a cottage at Beltana from 1894. He toured remote communities accompanied by his daughter Agnes.
The Reverend and his daughter visited shearers and station hands, miners, railway workers, Afghans and Aboriginal groups. Travelling and camping with a portable pedal organ, which Agnes played in homesteads and shearing sheds, as her father conducted religious services.
Photograph of a group of men standing at the front of a large stone building. A tall wooden crane stands nearby loading bales of wool onto a cart. Caption reads 'Shearers. Beltana.' Approximately 1897, SLSA
Photograph on a postcard of two women dressed in smock gowns standing on the verandah of a timber building. Caption reads [Nurses Smith of Dunesk Mission]. Approximately 1897 |
1900s
Beltana Hotel, Beltana, South Australia c 1900, State Library of South Australia |
In 1900 the population of Beltana numbered 500.
Sports at Beltana
1930s
Donkey team at Beltana, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 24 November 1938
The coal-mining town of Leigh Creek attracted many hopeful miners during the 1940s and 50s and many left Beltana.
Around Beltana
Smith of Dunesk Mission at Beltana in South Australia, was founded in 1894 funded by a gift by Scotswoman Henrietta Smith (1782–1871) of Lasswade, near Edinburgh, made with the benefit of the Aboriginal people of South Australia particularly in view
BELTANA
"The Rev R Mitchell, who established the Smith of Dunesk mission here, some eight years ago, has been paying a visit to Hawker. His successor, Rev J B Reid, is making the mission a blessing to the far north, both spiritually and physically.
The poor of Beltana reap great benefits in the shape of medical attendance and medicine, given ungrudgingly by the mission, and also healthy literature.
Mr Mitchell has a warm place in the hearts of the northern people. He left for Moolooloo today, and thence will go to Parachilna."
Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Friday 11 December 1903
"The Rev R Mitchell, who established the Smith of Dunesk mission here, some eight years ago, has been paying a visit to Hawker. His successor, Rev J B Reid, is making the mission a blessing to the far north, both spiritually and physically.
The poor of Beltana reap great benefits in the shape of medical attendance and medicine, given ungrudgingly by the mission, and also healthy literature.
Mr Mitchell has a warm place in the hearts of the northern people. He left for Moolooloo today, and thence will go to Parachilna."
Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Friday 11 December 1903
Donkeys of Beltana
Thomas Elder and Samuel Stuckey had imported the donkeys (from Spain) to provide transport and carry goods in the region and to Port Augusta. Beltana became famous for its donkey studs.
Some donkeys worked in teams of 20-30.
BELTANA: Station children starting off for school in a donkey cart. Approximately 1919, SLSA |
Reverend John Flynn who later established the Royal Flying Doctor Service was based at the Presbyterian Mission at Beltana in 1911.
The Australian Inland Mission opened a nursing home at Beltana in 1919.
The Australian Inland Mission opened a nursing home at Beltana in 1919.
BELTANA: The renovated Smith of Dunesk house opening as the Australian Inland Mission's 'Mitchell Home', a nursing home, in 1919, SLSA |
1920s
Three Aboriginal men at Beltana, "The man on the right is Angorichina Tommy. He worked on Nilpena Station over 60 years ago", circa 1921, SLSA |
'I was once two years and a half at Beltana Presbyterian Inland Nursing Mission.' said Sister. Kinnear with a reminiscent smile, Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Tuesday 5 February 1924 |
Hassan (Harry) Monsoor
Hassan (Harry) Monsoor migrated from Lebanon to Australia in 1900 at age seventeen. Martin's house at Beltana had fallen into disrepair when it was purchased by Harry and his wife, who then set-up a general store. This store became the base for a hawking business in the South Australian outback.
The National Motor Museum in Birdwood, South Australia, has restored the hawker’s motor van operated by Harry Mansoor between 1928 and 1954.
The National Motor Museum in Birdwood, South Australia, has restored the hawker’s motor van operated by Harry Mansoor between 1928 and 1954.
National Motor Museum in Birdwood, South Australia has restored the hawker’s motor van operated by Harry Mansoor |
Sports at Beltana
The Beltana and district residents hold a yearly sports meeting for children, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 27 June 1925 |
Aboriginal people from Beltana, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 14 November 1925 |
1930s
Donkey team at Beltana, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 24 November 1938
The coal-mining town of Leigh Creek attracted many hopeful miners during the 1940s and 50s and many left Beltana.
1940s
Fossil Finds
Ediacara silver-lead mine, to the west of Beltana, boomed for a short period around 1890. However, later, in 1946, the geologist Reginald Sprigg discovered fossil imprints in rocks at the old Ediacara minefield. This discovery was very significant and the fossils that were found were named after Sprigg. The Ediacaran Period was named after the location where the fossils were found.The fossils preserved in the ancient sea-floor at Ediacara record the first known multicellular animal life on Earth that predates the Cambrian.
The Beltana railway station became redundant in 1956 when the narrow gauge line through Beltana was replaced by a standard gauge line that bypassed the town. The line is now closed.
In the 1950s the railway line was realigned, which meant fewer people travelled through Beltana.
During the 1980s, the road was moved further west and Leigh Creek became the main service town, leading to a further decline for Beltana.
Dickinsonia costata, an Ediacaran organism, displays the characteristic quilted appearance of Ediacaran enigmata, Verisimilus |
Things Change
In the 1950s the railway line was realigned, which meant fewer people travelled through Beltana.
During the 1980s, the road was moved further west and Leigh Creek became the main service town, leading to a further decline for Beltana.
Today, the Beltana state heritage area exhibits many buildings of heritage and historical significance. It is well worth a visit.
Around Beltana
Beltana School, SA, opened in 1893, replacing a wood and iron building moved from Sliding Rock to Beltana in 1878 |
Smith of Dunesk Mission at Beltana in South Australia, was founded in 1894 funded by a gift by Scotswoman Henrietta Smith (1782–1871) of Lasswade, near Edinburgh, made with the benefit of the Aboriginal people of South Australia particularly in view
The Great Northern Railway Line to Beltana, SA, was officially opened in 1881 |
The former Royal Victoria Hotel at Beltana, SA, was built in 1878. Closed as a licensed hotel in 1958 |
Building at Beltana, SA |
Ruins at Beltana Station, SA |
Ruins at Beltana Station, SA |
Beltana, SA, opened in 1881 |
Beltana, SA, opened in 1881 |
At Beltana, SA, cemetery, SA |
Former bakery site at Beltana,SA |
Martins bush pub eating house opened here in 1871 when the Overland Telegraph was being built. Beltana, SA denisbin |
Things To Do and Places To Go