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Belton
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The Hundred of Eurilpa was proclaimed on 18 January 1877. Some three years later there were about sixty settlers who had taken up small farming blocks, hoping for a good life and bountiful harvests. Their first job was to build a shelter for themselves or their family. Next came the task of clearing the land, ploughing it and get a crop in. When this was achieved it would be putting up fences and sinking dams or wells. It was only then that they could start thinking of building a house.
Among some of the early settlers were Owen Smith, John Meers, Arthur Retallick, George Earle, whose five sons later served in WWI and miraculously all returned home and Reinhold Bock. Bock was born on 22 September 1853 at Angaston. He married Johanna Caroline Schilling on 24 July 1877. He had some farm experience and after a short stay at Melrose, where his wife's father Gottfried Schilling farmed, moved with his family to the Belton area. In 1881 it was reported that a total of three hundred acres had been sown, yielding 560 bushels. The next year more than seven thousand acres had been sown giving as many as 20.000 bushels.
The town of Belton, in the Hundred of Eurilpa, County Granville, 48 km south-east of Hawker was named by Governor Jervois and proclaimed on 30 March 1882.
In 1882 the town and district were described in the Register of April as being ‘placed within a stone's throw of a thickly timbered creek thus offering a break to the hot winds and supplying a want which I know is severely felt in many localities in the north, viz., some place out of doors where rest and recreation are possible. In this creek in future days the poet, the sketcher and the solitary lover of nature will find a thing of beauty and a joy forever. The kangaroo still fattens on the streets and terraces of Belton; the eagle hawk and wallaby still haunt the hills; but there is little doubt that, with a favourable turn in the seasons, these present occupiers will have very brief and unceremonious notice to quit...’.
Unfortunately it did not take all that long before the eager farmers realised that with limited capital and even more limited rain, plus falling wheat prices, the future would not be as rosy as expected. To add to their misery there were the hordes of rabbits, trillions of locusts and the dingoes. If that was not enough there were also the constant hot winds and dust storms. In 1890, Goyder wrote that these people cling to their land with the utmost fortitude, enduring every kind of privation. The hope for better times was their only solace. At the land sales in Adelaide on 20 April 1882 several blocks were sold. All were of 1 rood, about ¼ acre or 1,000 square metres. The upset price was £2.10 per lot. Among the buyers were M.Kenny, 2 lots, T.A. Buerley, 2 lots, J. Torr, 4 lots, W.H. and T. Tremaine, 10 lots, H. Vyne, 1 lot and J. Moody 4 lots. A local reporter went to have a look at the place and described it as ‘a town in embryo’. He gave the directions as 30 kilometres north east of Carrieton on the outskirts of the selected country. After passing Yanyarrie Whim, 'turn right and you will see farmers busily seeding, hoping for a good season, which will recoup their time, labour and capital expended during the last two years. Belton gets its water from the Weira Well and is within a stone’s throw of a thickly timbered creek'. Regardless of all the hardship the town was making some progress. In 1883 a Post Office was opened with Richard Wallace as first Postmaster. There was a blacksmith, who had plenty of work and a general store. In 1883 Michael Mulligan took up land in the area. On 4 June 1885 a meeting was held to get a school established. W. Butler chaired the meeting. M. Cahill was quick off the mark and proposed, ‘that school accommodation is most urgently required at Belton’. Owen Smith seconded the motion. The nearest school at that time was at Carrieton. Cahill also proposed ‘that a petition be presented to the Minister of Justice and Education’. This was seconded by J. Garon. Both motions were passed. Among those attending were John Meers and J.B. Kerr. A few months later, on 18 August another large meeting was convened. This time it was chaired by John Meers. Now it was moved by J.B. Kerr that it was absolutely necessary that the government should grant some concessions to the farmers. Seconded by H. Horton it was duly passed as was the proposition that Belton should be declared a polling place. Christmas 1885 turned out to be a disaster for the small community. Florence Jane Boothy, who was only five years old, went walking with her brother towards the Prince Alfred mine and got lost. Her body was not found until several days later.
In 1887 Belton became part of the newly proclaimed District Council of Eurelia. In 1888 William James was the postmaster. Two years later Catherine Nelson was postmistress. In 1894 Benjamin Jones was the postmaster. On 10 November 1890 a sport and picnic day was held and some 400 people attended. In 1889 Belton finally got its long anticipated Provisional School with Sarah Davidson as the first teacher. It soon proved to be too small and a tent had to be erected in 1900, when Miss Andrewartha was the teacher, to accommodate the large number of children. During the 1890s and early 1900s there was a small exodus of farmers who had reached the end of the road after many very poor seasons. To number of residents was further depleted by a number of deaths. In 1898 Mrs Ann Jones, widow of Robert Jones, died on 20 March. They had been married at Kapunda in 1859 and in 1878 settled in the Hundred of Walloway. One of her sons, B. Jones was still living in Belton. She was buried at the Orroroo cemetery. That same year Mrs F.E. Schilling retired as Postmistress. On 22 July 1899 Charles Alfred Bock fell down a well and drowned. He was only 21 years old. In 1902 Charlotte Gamlen, wife of Eli died on 5 August, aged 77. She was buried at Belton. In 1892 William Russell, who had lived in the district for the last 4 years, was the owner of the school building, which had been open for 3 years. There was a female teacher who lived with the Russells. When Russell left, the teacher resigned and went with them. Average attendance had been 26 students each day. However the building was very small and students were ‘packed in like herrings in a cask’. Residents were adamant that they would have a proper school ‘by hook or by crook’. By 1897 the drought and lack of feed had become so bad that all horses were removed from the area to keep them alive. Although many farmers had left the district, among them Reinhold Bock in 1901 to Queensland, there were also a few newcomers. In 1896 Gottfried and Louise Schilling, with their son Albert, moved to Belton to live in retirement and be close to their children who had moved there some years before. Johann Gottfried Schilling was born in Langmeil, Prussia on 23 April 1828 and arrived in South Australia at the age of 9. On 13 May 1852 he married Johanne Louise Klemm at Light Pass. They were to have seven children. Gottfried had a variety of jobs such as teamster, constable, interpreter, councillor and farmer. During 1877 the Schilling family moved to Melrose where, with the help of their sons, they farmed for many years. When land was opened up in the Bendleby-Belton area they moved out and established their own farms. On 13 May 1902 Gottfried and Louise celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary but two years later, on 2 September, Gottfried died, aged 75, and was buried at Belton. His wife Louisa died a few months later on 26 January 1905, aged 70. She also had her final resting place at Belton. Other new arrivals at Belton were Jack Hardy and his wife Edith in 1905. They bought Harrington's property and with the help of their three sons hoped to make a go of it. In 1916 Michael Mulligan, born County Cavan, Ireland in 1837, died on 31 July. He had arrived in SA when 27 years old. Worked at Kapunda, Manoora, Mintaro and Pekina. In 1883 he selected land in the Hundred of Eurilpa. He remained a bachelor all his life. He had become a successful stock raiser and left considerable property to Roman Catholic charities. In August 1919 Mrs John Meers died. She was born in Bendigo, Victoria. Married in 1870 at Marrabel. They came to Belton around 1880 where she lived until her death. They had ten children. Eli Gamlen died on 28 August 1936, aged 92 and was buried at Belton. Emily Priscilla Thulburn died in 1944, aged 66. Her husband, John Thulburn, died on 25 March aged 75. Both were buried at Belton.
During all these years the Post Office had been kept open with P.J. Smith as postmaster from 1918 until 1930. As more and more farmers and town people left the district it was finally closed on 31 March 1969 when O.L. Smith was its last office bearer. In 1982 descendants of the Smith, Clarke and Heaslip families were still living in the area.
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