The
traditional owners of the area are the
Kuyani people, an
Aboriginal Australian people. The name "Andamooka" is a combination of two of words in the
Kuyani language meaning "loaded bone" or "powerful bone", which is a reference to
bone pointing as an act of
retribution. The first European to visit was
John McDouall Stuart, who passed through the area in 1858 and made note of a waterhole in the area. By 1884 the property was stocked with 45,000 sheep, 900 cattle and 250 horses. It produced 480
bales of wool from the year's clip. In 1885 the station encompassed an area of and was stocked with 45,000 sheep, 200 cattle and 250 horses. The same year 680
bales of wool were produced. By 1893 the property was owned by Messrs Beaton and Young. By 1901 the lease had been abandoned like many others in the area but left under a caretaker, the property encompassed an area of .
Opals were discovered on the property in 1930 by two
drovers who saw the flashes of colour reflected from opals embedded in a hillside after a thunderstorm. The town site of
Andamooka was established shortly afterwards. In 1949 Andamooka occupied an area of and was managed by Lloyd Pollard.
Dingos had become problematic in the area and were killing stock. The area had good rains in 1984 with the lakes partially filled, some years of
drought followed, but heavy rains arriving again in 2007 with of rain over two days and floodwaters coming within of the homestead. The land occupying the extent of the Andamooka Station pastoral lease was gazetted by the
Government of South Australia as a locality in April 2013 under the name "Andamooka Station". ==See also==