Gawler is a town in the state of South Australia. The name is the family name of the second Governor, (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia. South Australia was established by proclamation in 1836 (with no recognition of or compensation for the indigenous Kaurna people).

Gawler is 40 km (25 miles) north of the state capital, Adelaide. It is close to the major wine producing district of Barossa Valley. Topographically, Gawler lies at the confluence of two tributaries of the Gawler River, the North and South Para rivers, where they emerge from a range of low hills.

A British colony, South Australia was established as a commercial venture by the South Australia Company through the sale of land to free settlers at £1 per acre (£247/km²). This differed from other Australian states, which were either established as penal colonies or made use of convict labour (Western Australia). Gawler was established by a 'special survey' for a syndicate of colonists and the town plan was devised by the colonial surveyor, William Light, the son of Francis Light who founded Penang, Malaysia. Gawler was the only town planned by William Light other than Adelaide.

Adelaide became a model of foresight with wide streets and ample parklands. After Light's death, it also became a model for numerous other planned towns in South Australia (many of which were never built). As the only other town planned by Light, Gawler is ironically dissimilar to Adelaide's one square mile (2.6 km²) grid. Both townships in fact respond well to their respective sites. The heart of Gawler is triangular rather than square, a form dictated by the topographical features. The parkland along the riverbanks and a Victorian preference for public squares are there but Light was aware that he was planning a village, not a metropolis.

Gawler prospered early with the discovery of copper nearby at Kapunda, which resulted in Gawler becoming a stopping point on the way to Adelaide. Later, it developed industries including flour milling and manufacturing steam locomotives.

With prosperity came a modest cultural flowering, the high point of which was the holding of a competition to compose an anthem for Australia in 1859, four decades before statehood. The result was The Song of Australia, written by Caroline J Carleton to music by Carl Linger . This became in the next century a candidate in a national referendum to choose a new National Anthem for Australia to replace 'God Save the Queen'.

Generally, however, Gawler was, and remains, a commercial centre for the Mid-North districts of South Australia and, increasingly, a dormitory town for Adelaide. The hit Australian televison program McLeod's Daughters is shot at "Kingsford" a working property outside Gawler.

External links

• Town website
• Map of Gawler