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History
Oodnadatta, on the Neales River, was surveyed in 1890 one year after work on the Warrina to Angle Pole section of the Great Northern railway line reached there – and went no further. Work was suspended following discussions in the new Parliament of 1889 and a decision to discharge 600 men to help with the southern wheat harvest that year.
The line terminated there until 1929 when it was built on to Alice Springs by the Commonwealth Government. This extended period ensured Oodnadatta’s prominence as a major railhead for cattle walked down the stock routes from Charlotte Waters just over the Northern Territory border and from the Musgrave and Everard Ranges to the north west.
The termination of the rail there also meant that travellers and freight moving on to Alice Springs had to be carried by camels – a journey then of between eight and ten days. By 1893 there were some 50 Afghans based at Oodnadatta working 400 camels in every direction from the town.
It remained a railway service and stopover station while the narrow gauge Ghan line to Alice Springs was in use but with its closure in 1980 the town quietened to be the pastoral station service and tourist centre it is today.
During the Second World War, the airstrips at Oodnadatta were enlarged for use as a fighter training and strategic back-up aerodrome and some of the infrastructure developed then still stands.
Special attractions
With a mixed Aboriginal and European population of about 160 Oodnadatta is arguably the most isolated surveyed town in northern SA. There is no all-weather road access and no regular public transport. The town is sometimes isolated after heavy episodic storm rain. All this helps Oodnadatta reek of authenticity and with its wide main street, its iron and stone buildings with wide verandahs and its well preserved railway museum it is a ‘must’ destination for serious outback travellers.
The town today is seen as the southern gateway to the Witjira National Park, Dalhousie Springs and the Simpson Desert. It has also been a pivotal centre for stations in the Kidman empire with Macumba to the east and The Peake to the south still operating within that company configuration. The town is still surrounded on all sides by the commonage of the largest teamster and travelling stock reserve in the State. It was proclaimed in 1897.
Tourist services
There are a range of accommodation options available at both the hotel and the well-known ‘Pink Roadhouse’. Seven-day fuel and supplies are available. There is a police presence, an Internet centre and a permanently-staffed Frontier Service clinic and hospital.
The town hosts an annual race meeting and the local community of townspeople and surrounding pastoralists run an annual Bronco-branding event that has won an SA Great Award.
There is a good, all-weather airstrip and at most times the connecting road (the ‘Oodnadatta Track’) to the west to Marla and to the south to William Creek is usable by two-wheel drive vehicles not in a huge hurry.
Community Economic Development Plan 
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