BELTANA SA

  A rough 15 of gravel led from the Hwy to Beltana Station and Beltana Heritage Town situated thereon. The Adnyamathanha (meaning hills or Rock People). are recognised as the first inhabitants of Beltana and the surrounding region. The first European pastoralists arrived in the mid 1850s. The land subsequently became the central holdings of the Beltana pastoral Co, a South Australia grazing empire. The town dates from 1870 with the arrival of the Overland Telegraph and the discovery of Copper 20 kms to the east. Beltana's heyday came in the 1880s with the arrival of the Transcontinental Railway in 1881. Railway buildings,shops, a Police Station and a Brewery were established. The town's most famous resident was Reverend John Flynn who established the Royal Flying Doctor's Service and the Australian Inland Mission. He was based here in 1911, living in the manse.
  Beltana began to decline in 1941 when nearby Leigh Creek was built. The last businesses closed in 1983. The Town is still occupied with the buildings in different states of disrepair or in the process of restoration. In 1987, Beltana was declared a State Heritage Area in recognition of it's link with South Australia's history.

Beltana Station

Police Station c1881

The Cell Block c1881

The Schoolhouse c1893

Presbyterian Manse c1894

I wish that I could read German

The Bakery has been reconstructed from photographs

The remains of the Bakery Chimneys with  a new entrance to the Underground Oven in the distance

Doigs's coach building  shop became Smith of Dunesk Mission 1919 - 30

Royal Victoria Hotel c1878

An old Afghan Well