The first European to visit the area was Charles Sturt in 1845.[12] He was followed by A C Gregory in 1858 and then Burke and Wills. A monument to Sturt and Burke and Wills was erected in Innamincka in 1944.
In 1882 a police camp was set up, paving the way for a small settlement.[12] In 1889, a Royal Mail coach ran fortnightly from Farina, operated by merchants Davey and Pilkington.[13]
Originally named Hopetoun, Innamincka was proclaimed as a town on 17 April 1890.[3] Hopetoun was named after the Governor of Victoria, the Earl of Hopetoun. However, it was never popular with local people[12] and was re-proclaimed as the Town of Innamincka on 28 January 1892.[14]
The town was never very large, but had a hotel, a store and a police station which, until Federation in 1901, acted as the customs post for collecting inter-colonial duties[15] on cattle brought overland from Queensland into South Australia. In 1928 the Australian Inland Mission (a part of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia) built a hospital, the Elizabeth Symon Nursing Home. Severe drought and poor access to the settlement then resulted in the closure of the hotel and the hospital. In 1951 the police post closed and the town was abandoned.
In 2003, boundaries were created for the locality of Innamincka, including the government town.[4] In 2013, the locality's boundaries were altered to include all of the Innamincka Regional Reserve and the Coongie Lakes National Park.[1]
The town common, on the banks of the Cooper, is popular with campers, as is the town's public coin-in-slot toilet and shower facility.
The Burke and Wills expedition passed through this area on their journey across Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They established a Depot Camp on Cooper Creek at Camp LXV, their sixty-fifth camp since leaving Melbourne, at a place now called The Dig Tree. There was a depot at the Dig Tree from 6 December 1860 to 21 April 1861.
Howitt returned to the area in 1862 as leader of the Victorian Exploring Party. He established a depot camp at Cullyamurra Waterhole before exhuming the bodies of Burke and Wills and transporting them to Melbourne for a state funeral.
Today it is possible to visit the locations of Wills's grave and King's site on Cooper Creek downstream of Innamincka, and Burke's grave, Howitt's camp and the Dig Tree on Cooper Creek upstream of Innamincka.
^ abCockburn, John A. (17 April 1890). "Proclamation re the Town of Hopetoun"(PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South Australia. pp. 1108–1109. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ abGovernment of South Australia (23 October 2003). "Geographical Names Act 1991 Notice to Assign Names and Boundaries to Places"(PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South AustralIA. p. 3859. Retrieved 14 April 2019. Assign the names Yunta, Blinman, Bookabie, Glendambo, Yalata, Kingoonya, Olary, Innamincka, and Manna Hill to those areas Out of Councils and shown numbered 1 to 9 on Rack Plan 857 (Sheet 3)
^"Stuarts Creek, 5720". Location SA Map Viewer. Government of South Australia. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
^"Innamincka, 5731". Location SA Map Viewer. Government of South Australia. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.