Beltana
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Footnotes | Adjoining localities[1] |
Beltana is a town 540 kilometres (336 mi) north of Adelaide, South Australia. Beltana is known for continuing to exist long after the reasons for its existence had ceased. The town's history began in the 1870s with the advent of copper mining in the area, construction of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line and The Ghan railway and began to decline in 1941 with the beginning of coal mining at Leigh Creek. The fortune of the town was sealed by the 1983 realignment of the main road away from the town.[6] The town, adjacent cemetery and railway structures are now part of a designated State Heritage Area declared in 1987.[7]
Beltana has important links with the
The town has had
Landscape
Beltana lies 240 m above sea level between the often dry Warrioota and Sliding Rock creeks near Mount Deception.[8] Due to the flatness of the country, the town's proximity to the creeks and the area's usually unpredictable weather, heavy rainfall has often led to flooding. Beltana has experienced six months with no rain (1960–61) and six months with over 300 mm of rain (1975–76) and drought has caused the area to be unstocked for long periods (1903–09).[9] Rainfall has ranged from 57 mm in 1902 to a record 408.6 mm in 1974 with a long term average of 205 mm.[10] There are occasional winter frosts, hailstorms and one recorded snowfall (on Mount Hack and Mount Stuart in July 1971).[11]
History
Original inhabitants
The original inhabitants were the Kuyani and Adnyamathanha Aboriginal people who used the area as a camp due to the nearby springs. With the arrival of Europeans their traditional lifestyle was disrupted and many of them began working as stockmen on pastoral runs.[6] During the early years of European settlement they kept a camp near Beltana Station but later moved closer to the town at Warrioota Creek. As the town was gradually depopulated some Aboriginal people occupied the abandoned buildings so by the late 1960s they again formed the majority of the population.[12]
Naming
Beltana takes its name from that of a nearby
The town
Land in the area was first taken up for pastoral use by John Haines in 1854, taken over by Thomas Elder in 1862, and amalgamated in 1867 into the Beltana Pastoral Company of Elder and Samuel Stuckey. In 1866 Elder and Stuckey shipped in 109 "Afghans" and their camels, forming the basis for the area's mid-19th century transport.[7] The town's first building was Martin's Eating House, which was built in 1870 to take advantage of the discovery of copper at Sliding Rock, 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Beltana. The town's location had already been chosen as a
In 1873 the town was surveyed and laid out with an enthusiastic 115 allotments, room allowed for parklands and further expansion, with reserved allotments for a school, police station and hospital. On 2 October 1873, it was proclaimed under The Northern Townships Act 1872 as a town, and is sometimes referred to as a government town.[1][3]
In 1877 significant water was struck at the Sliding Rock mine and the mine failed, with many moving to Beltana. The mine's remnants survive today as the
Beltana’s best time was between 1875 and the 1920s. During these years mining activity was at its height. The town supported a brewery, two hotels, post and telegraph office, school, police station, doctor, court-house, church,
Mechanisation,
Explorers
The town was, for some time, the starting point of many central Australian expeditions and explorations including those by
Beltana today
With the loss of the railway, main road, mining, telegraph and the collapse of the nearby Leigh Creek coal mine, all of the original reasons for the town to exist have vanished. The population reached 9 in 1984 and today the town survives as a historic tourist site and living ghost town.
Most surviving buildings are now in private hands and not open to the public. There is an interpretive trail with signs detailing the history of many of the buildings in the town. Beltana has a campground run by the community that can be booked on Hipcamps.[7]
Locality
In 1997, boundaries for a locality with the name of Beltana were established under the Geographical Names Act 1991 to "incorporate suburban areas to and adjacent areas to Beltana". These boundaries included the Government Town of Beltana.[1][4]
Town buildings
Smith of Dunesk Mission
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2019) |
The Smith of Dunesk Mission, of the
The first
Missioners were to be ordained ministers, but several who served were not. The Smith of Dunesk missioners until the Mission was absorbed into the AIM as the Southern Patrol in 1933 were:[citation needed]
|
Rev Fred H. Patterson (1888–1944) supplied part-time in 1932 while minister of Port Augusta. From the beginning of 1933 the Mission was absorbed into the Southern Patrol of the Australian Inland Mission with Patterson padre 1933–40.
The Beltana Mission Hall, which dates from 1878 or 1879 was described as Doig's Assembly Room in the Northern Argus of 25 April 1879, which suggests that it was not a carriage showroom adjunct to Doig's adjoining blacksmith premises as frequently stated, but was built for community purposes. It was built on the corner of Lot 18 which had been purchased by John James Doig in 1877. There were double doors towards the rear of the north-east wall of the main room and a rear room with chimney and separate access. There was a quadrille dance there in April 1879, the Local Court hired it for its sittings and Mrs Anna Doig conducted a Sunday School in it for many years. Doig offered the building and the corner piece of his land to the Church in 1902 for £60 and it was duly purchased. The first service was held on 8 March 1903 led by Rev J.B.Smellie who renovated it to suit. An extra room accessed through the former double doors was added when the building was thoroughly renovated and the exterior rendered in 1918 during the term of Rev H.E. Carey. The extension was removed in 1955 when AIM Patrol Padre 1949-57 Vic Murrell lived in Beltana in the original manse. The building has been kept in fair condition and with much local and other support was put in good order for the commemoration of the founding of the Australian Inland Mission held there 6/7 October 2012.[citation needed]
Police station
Due to concerns over the behaviour of workers on the railway line a
School
With the closure of the Sliding Rock mine, its school (at the mining township of Cadnia) was dismantled and relocated to Beltana in 1878. A new single room stone building was completed in October 1893 and the original galvanised iron school was converted into a teachers residence.[24] In 1925 the original school was dismantled and materials used to add a shelter shed and woodwork room to the new building. It was closed in 1967 with students now bussed daily to Leigh Creek area school 40kms away.[25] The school was always a single-teacher school with a peak enrolment of 52 students in 1904.[6]
The Overland Telegraph station (1872-1956)
A temporary repeater station on the Overland Telegraph Line was opened in 1872 at Beltana, although the line was established there in 1871, with the first message sent in July 1871.[26] A permanent station was built there in 1875 -- the building is still standing today, and is a private residence. Operated by a staff of up to six it relayed morse telegraph messages on the Port Darwin-Adelaide telegraph lines. The station received its first phone message in 1878, was moved in 1940 to a telephone switchboard at the local shop, and closed by 1956 as an automatic exchange had been installed.[6]
Railway station
On 19 January 1878 Sir
Note for visitors
- Although it appears that the town is uninhabited and that visitors can freely walk into any building they like, the buildings are privately owned and some are inhabited, so many inhabited houses have "Keep Out" signs posted on them.[8]
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b c d "Search results for 'Beltana, LOCB' with the following datasets being selected - 'Suburbs and Localities', 'Government Towns', 'Counties', 'Hundreds', 'Local Government Areas', 'SA Government Regions', 'Land Development Plan Zone Categories' and 'Gazetteer'". Location SA Map Viewer. Government of South Australia. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Beltana (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
- ^ a b Musgrave, A (2 October 1873). "Untitled proclamation under The Northern Townships Act, 1872 re the townships of Cadnia, Beltana, Herbert, and Pekina" (PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. South Australian government. pp. 1682–1683. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ a b Kentish, P.M. (29 May 1997). "GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES ACT 1991 Notice to Assign Boundaries to Places (localities of Beltana, Cockburn, Marree, Farina and Waukaringa)" (PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. South Australian government. p. 2691. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ a b c "Monthly climate statistics: Summary statistics LEIGH CREEK AIRPORT (nearest station)". Commonwealth of Australia , Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Interpreting Beltana's History, interpretative signs around the town". Heritage South Australia, Government of South Australia. 2006. Archived from the original on 19 September 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2006.
- ^ a b c d "Beltana State Heritage Area". Heritage South Australia, Government of South Australia. 2006. Archived from the original on 19 September 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2006.
- ^ a b c d e "Beltana, Superb semi-ghost town on the edge of the desert". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 February 2005. Retrieved 10 September 2006.
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 151
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 155
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 158
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 12
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 9
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 7
- ISBN 978-0-7022-6379-8. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Sliding Rock Mine". South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 11
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 14
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 15
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 162
- ^ a b Duguid, Charles (17 February 1948). "Smith of Dunesk Bequest". The Advertiser. Vol. 90, no. 27882. (Letter to the editor, confirming that the bequest was made for the benefit of Aborigines in South Australia.). Adelaide. p. 2. Retrieved 14 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Duguid, Phyllis E. (Phyllis Evelyn) (1937), A brief account of the Smith of Dunesk Bequest, P.E Duguid, retrieved 14 July 2019
- ^ "Smith of Dunesk Mission". Beltana: Flinders historic town. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 112
- ^ Aird G 1984, p. 119
- ^ "GENERAL NEWS". Express and Telegraph. 14 July 1871. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
References
- Aird, Graham; Klaassen, Nic (1984). Beltana, The Town That Will Not Die. Beltana, South Australia: Graham Aird and Nic Klaassen. ISBN 0-9591081-0-6.
- Rowland S. Ward, The Smith of Dunesk Mission: Forerunner of the Australian Inland Mission (New Melbourne Press, 2012) ISBN 978-0-9806757-3-3