[1][4] It is where the Dukes Highway and the railway line cross the Tatiara Creek between Adelaide and Melbourne, the capital of Victoria.

Bordertown was established in 1852 when a direct route across the Ninety Mile Desert was being planned for gold escorts from the Victorian goldfields to Adelaide.

Police Inspector Alexander Tolmer was instructed to create a town as close as practical to the border.

[11] Boundaries for the locality were created on 16 March 2000 and give the long established name and include the Government Town of Bordertown.

Bordertown has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: The district's economy is based primarily on agriculture, with cereal crops and livestock farming.

[17] Prior to this, the other historical newspaper in the town was the Tatiara Mail which was founded in 1880 by Melbourne Mott (whose father owned The Hamilton Spectator in Victoria) and Michael Murphy.

Bordertown is on the Dukes Highway and the Melbourne–Adelaide railway, the main routes by road and rail between Adelaide and Melbourne.