The Kungarrakan and Awarai Aboriginal peoples are acknowledged as the traditional owners of the land surrounding the present day town of Adelaide River.

This service utilised pack horses, and during the wet season months when progress was slow mail bags from the north and south were exchanged at the crossing of the Adelaide River.

Hotel on the river bank and a restaurant, the "Jolly Waggoner" was opened by George Doherty, increasing the importance of the area as an overnight stop for travellers.

[9] Prior to the construction of the railway to Pine Creek, the Adelaide River crossing was the overnight stopping point for the Haimes Royal Mail Coach which linked Southport with the goldfields.

Legislation providing for an upgraded transport link was passed in 1883 by the government of John Cox Bray in the form of the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway Bill.

[12] In 1886 a contract was signed between the Government of South Australia and construction firm C&E Millar to build the railway between Port Darwin (then known as Palmerston) and the goldfields at Pine Creek.

The first train to cross reached the southern bank on 3 December 1888, followed five days later by the first scheduled service, hauled by the locomotive "Silverton".

In 1911 brothers Frank and Fred Hardy, local buffalo hunters, established Mount Bundy Station on an 834sq mi pastoral lease near the town of Adelaide River.

Using local Aboriginal stockmen to hunt and process the animals, they began exporting buffalo hide to European markets.

The immediate aftermath of these attacks led to a mass-exodus of the city's civilian population toward the south, an event that would become known as the Adelaide River Stakes.

A military airfield was built in the town close to the railway station, along with several others in the surrounding district including Coomalie Creek and Pell.

An ammunition dump, including a spur railway line, was established at Snake Creek, 2 mi (3.2 km) to the north.

It is set on the banks of the river and is maintained with lush green lawns, and floral garden beds all year round.

The line was officially closed in 1981 along with the Adelaide River station,[23] but even with maintenance gangs withdrawn, the yard and facilities remained mostly intact.

[28] Adelaide River police Sergeant Glen Huitson was shot and killed while on duty by fugitive Rodney Ansell on 3 August 1999 on the Old Bynoe Rd near Livingstone.

The town remains an important rest stop for travellers on the Stuart Highway and offers fuel, mechanical repairs and accommodation.

Businesses on the main street include 2 petrol outlets (including a large BP Roadhouse with diner and convenience store used as a refreshment stop for Interstate coach services passing through town and is open till midnight 7 days a week[32]), a general store and the Adelaide River Inn hotel located behind the bp service station The town is serviced by a Remote Health Centre run by the Northern Territory Government.

The precinct operates as a museum and has several restored vehicles and items of rolling stock from the original North Australia Railway on display, as well as maintaining the buildings.

A society of "friends" of the precinct aim to restore a section of the track between Adelaide River Station and the old Snake Creek armoury using the original 1888 bridge and operate a heritage train, however the construction and alignment of the Adelaide-Darwin Railway has created obstacles to the completion of this project.