by Wendy Treloar
Gawler is reputed to have been the first country town established in South Australia. In 1837 Colonel William Light and his assistant, Boyle Travers Finniss, passed through the area accompanied by Mr McRandall. Light viewed the future site of Gawler with favour, for he recognised that it was ideally positioned on the road to the north and the Murray River. He recommended that McLaren take Gawler as the first Special Survey for the South Australian Company, but his suggestion was not followed up. However, Henry Dundas Murray, John Reid, and ten others acted on Light's recommendation and applied for a Special Survey of 4000 acres (1618 hectares).
The survey, the town was to consist of 100 acres (40 hectares) or 200 half - acres (56 hectares) were to be set aside for parklands, streets, schools, churches, a market, a burial ground and other public purposes.
The town was laid out by William Jacob from a plan supplied by Colonel Light and named Gawler after the then Governor of South Australia.
John Reid, the first to settle in the Gawler locality, arrived from Adelaide with his family in February 1839, to take up his selection adjacent to the North Para River. By the end of that year pioneers moving to land in the north and overlanders moving sheep from New South Wales were calling at the Reid homestead as a resting place. John Reid induced and financially supported a Mr Schiebner to build a hotel to cater for the needs of travellers. The "Old Spot" built on Gawler's Main Street, became the first building on the town lands.
Gawler consisted of a few huts and little else of note until the latter part of 1842, when copper deposits were discovered at Kapunda. With the development of the mines a large carrying trade between Kapunda and Adelaide developed, and the teams carrying ore and returning with supplies made Gawler a stopping place. The town rapidly grew in importance, and by 1846 with the discovery and development of the Burra copper mines, through traffic had swollen to huge proportions.
These developments, and the settlement of the agricultural areas in the Mid North saw the beginning of a permanent community in Gawler, and with this came the evolution of it's identity as a town rather than a resting place on the northern route.
In 1853 and 1854 Local Government was introduced to the area, with the formation of the Districts of Munno Para East (10 November 1853), Mudla Wirra and Barossa West (both on 19 January 1854) and Munno Para West (27 April 1854). The township of Gawler was within the District of Barossa West, and until1857 rates were levied by that Council. However, dissatisfaction with the services rendered to the town resulted in local agitation initiated by the solicitor John Rundall and representations were made to the Government to gain separate incorporation. On 9 July 1857 the Municipality of the Town of Gawler was proclaimed, with the boundaries being those of the original survey.
In the next decade the expansion of agriculture supported the continued growth of the Town. New suburban townships were surveyed and allotments sold; and telegraphic communication between Gawler and Adelaide was installed. New impetus was gained from the passing of the Strangways Act (1869), which allowed the selection of agricultural land on credit and in small blocks. This Act had a significant impact on the economy of the whole colony, and on the distribution and deployment of its population. Its effect on Gawler, a township already geared to servicing an agricultural population, was to establish it as a major commercial and industrial centre. The manufacture of heavy industrial, mining, and agricultural machinery started, and by the turn of the century the industrial base consisted of six engineering works ( of which four included foundries), several blacksmiths, three large flour mills, fodder compressors, chaffcutters, butter - makers, lime - burners and brick makers.
Between 1871 and 1901 Gawler's prosperity rose to a peak. Developments in transport and communications, services, and the social life of the community paralleled the rise in industrial activities and in turn often provide further demand for goods and services. By the end of this period most of the current public services (water, electricity, and telephone) had been initiated and transportation routes and services established. New needs for schools, churches and clubs had rapidly been met.
The Corporation made great improvements to local roads and footpaths, the fire brigade service was regularised and upgraded by coming under the Fire Brigades Board of South Australia, a public water supply system utilising a central pumping plant and wall and a storage tank on Calton Hill was established in 1882/83, and at the very end of this period a long standing demand for a more permanent water supply was met with the adoption by the Government of the Barossa Water Scheme. Water from this scheme was first supplied to Gawler on 31 December 1901.
The first three decades of the twentieth century witnesses major changes in the economic life of Gawler. This was a period of preparation for the new directions that the township and its population for the new directions that the township and its population were subsequently obliged to take as a result of local and colonial developments.
Building in the area was particularly active in the period between 1909 and 1918; and a major new industry was established. The sand-carting business established soon after the turn of the century expanded their operations and brought new custom to the railways and to carters, and new income to the Corporation ( in the form of licence fees and later royalties) as well as to lessees and employees. The Corporation itself was active in promoting new facilities and services for residents. Electric light was installed in the township in 1912.
Soon after 1920 this temporary boom came to an end. The colonial and inter - colonial demand for machinery of all types fell off, men had returned from the first World War and were unable to find employment, wages were reduced and strikes were common in the large engineering works. Efforts to attract new industry were unsuccessful, and by 1929 unemployment was rising.
The years between 1929 and 1978 saw the continuing transformation of Gawler from an economically independent and autonomous township with its own industry and services and a locally employed workforce to what was largely a dormitory suburb in which half the workforce was employed outside the Corporation boundaries. The local population looked increasingly to Adelaide for employment, social activity and merchandise. From the 1940's metropolitan home purchasers and expanding industrial developments encroached on the cheaper flat land south of Gawler commercial centre. Never the less, many locally-owned businesses now became branches or agencies of larger outside firms; and, particularly in the 1970's chain stores and supermarkets increasingly undermined the traditional small shops and services.
After the Depression a number of new industries were attracted to Gawler, and although these were mainly small enterprises they provided some alternative to dependence on the metropolitan area for employment. With this industrial revival and the increased new population from the late 1940's the local building trades and suppliers also received new impetus, although here too there were significant changes, with the South Australian Housing Trust and, later large buildings firms undertaking multiple housing development in designated areas.
Social life also saw many with the increasing spread of population undermining the former community activities centred on Murray Street and Church Hill (Cowan Street). The Gawler Institute, for example, lost its position as the focus of social and cultural activities, and the satisfaction of higher education and literary ambitions became formalised through Government-funded institutions. A wide variety of new service organisations were established, and sporting facilities and fixtures were established, and sporting facilities and fixtures were considerably extended. Most of the services provided by the Corporation and other community groups during this period were directed towards the improvement of recreational and educational facilities, reflecting the increase in the young and old sections of the population.
Recognition was given to the enlarged community comprising Gawler and sustaining its commercial centre by the formation on 22 June 1933 of the Greater Gawler South and portions of the District Councils of Barossa, Freeling, Munno Para East, and Munno Para West. This move reinforced the established distribution of residential, commercial and industrial settlement and helped to ensure that the growing southern residential areas remained orientated towards the Gawler Town Centre and its services rather than other growing township within the Munno Para District Council. With the incorporation of Willaston into the enlarged Gawler Corporation, considerable areas capable of sustaining small - scale industry were also acquired.
From the late 1960's a number of important new undertakings were initiated by State and Local Government, including the implementation by the Council of a major sewerage programme and various drainage and parkland improvements, the completion of a major new education facility, and the opening of an automatic telephone exchange. In spite of local drought conditions the future of Gawler (seen as bleak in the mid 1960's) began to improve rapidly. In the 1970's Gawler saw a general commercial resurgence and, with increases in population within surrounding areas, moved towards re-establishing itself as a major regional centre. The rapid development of the commercial sector and the changes caused by an influx of new residents inevitably provoked both new demands and some conflicts within the community.
Because of the relationship of residential development adjacent the boundaries of the township to the commercial, community and service facilities provided in Gawler, several petitions seeking an extension of the Town boundaries were considered by the Government during the 1970's. The technicalities of achieving boundary change by petition were such that these endeavours were unsuccessful. In 1983 a Select Committee of the Legislative Council was appointed to enquire into the Local Government boundaries of the Town of Gawler.
The recommendations of the Select Committee were adopted by both Houses of Parliament, and on 13 March 1985 the boundaries of the Town of Gawler were extended to incorporate a portion of the District Council of Barossa to the east, areas to the wast previously within the District Council of Light and the Evanston ward of the District Council of Munno Para to the south.
This change provides new opportunities for the continued growth of the Gawler community and the maintenance of Gawler ad a significant influence within its region.
Change of name to Town of Gawler, gazetted 24/4/2003
