Gawler Civic Centre
An iconic, community hub leading the renaissance of Gawler by connecting people and businesses through increased commercial activity, community events and interaction.
Officially opened on Sunday 7 April 2019, the primary purpose of the Gawler Civic Centre is to revitalise and redevelop existing Main Street, community buildings that will drive economic growth, create new jobs and strengthen the social and cultural base of Gawler and the broader region.
Social connection, community celebration and lifelong learning are key outcomes for this unique, regional facility.
The Gawler Civic Centre contains six business functions that intend to collectively deliver significant community and economic development in the region, namely:
- Gawler Public Library
- Cultural Heritage Centre
- Function Venues and Meeting Rooms
- Youth Space
- Business Innovation Hub
- Gawler Tertiary Hub
Celebrating and connecting past, present and future communities.
A true community facility, developed and driven by the local community, creating the pre-eminent social, cultural, heritage and business innovation centre for the region.
The Gawler Civic Centre has a wide range of products and services to offer, delivered both separately and collectively via the six functional areas. Collaboratively these offerings will enable the Gawler Civic Centre to once again be the service centre for the broader Gawler region.
Collaborative products and services that will provide diverse value to the wider Gawler community include: education and training programs, social and community wellbeing services and partnership delivery models.
The Gawler Civic Centre aims to provide a genuine, new cultural tourism experience, be an economic driver and a community connection point for the region.
Discover, Connect, Innovate and Grow.
Key outcomes of the Gawler Civic Centre are to create an iconic, functional hub that will bring people, business and new employment opportunities to the Gawler CBD and establish a sense of belonging, well-being and support for the region through increased business activity, community events and interaction.
Outcomes of the Gawler Civic Centre are grounded in a strong desire by Council to build a stronger, more diversified and economically sustainable local and regional community and economy.
Shared outcomes include: education and lifelong learning, social interaction and safe community spaces.
Each functional area within the Gawler Civic Centre will provide a range of different products and services and therefore a variety of community outcomes. Targeting the local community is the initial priority, however servicing the regional catchment and drawing visitors from across South Australia are key medium to long term strategies.
This project was jointly funded by the Australian Government through the National Stronger Regions Fund ($5.6M), and the Town of Gawler.
Upcoming Shows, Events and Exhibitions
Community Information
October 2021:
Recovering the Past is an international touring exhibition that contains 25 large-format montage photographs featuring Australia’s famed Diggers and the Belgian Army’s Flanders-based bomb disposal team accompanied by thought-provoking quotes sourced from Australia’s archives. The exhibition is on display at the Gawler Civic Centre until 29 October 2021 before moving to regional South Australia. The exhibition is free for all of the community to attend.
July 2021:
“Council is pleased to announce that Metropolitan Canteens SA has been engaged to manage the Café within the Gawler Civic Centre,” said Mayor Redman. “The Café will be open for business in early August delivering a fresh daily home-style menu.”
Read the full Media Release here: Gawler Civic Centre Cafe operator announcement
January 2021:
There will be a jam-packed program of events in Gawler for the 2021 Fringe - Friday 19 February to Sunday 21 March, coinciding with the Adelaide Fringe.
The award-winning Gawler Civic Centre has been registered as an Adelaide Fringe venue and will be one of the main venues for this year’s Gawler Fringe festivities. Across the month of Fringe, the Gawler Civic Centre will host a range of exciting events including live music, comedy, film, magic, circus, cabaret, quiz night, Nunga Fringe, Gawler Fringe Art Exhibition, workshops, demonstrations, Library events and Youth Space activities.
September 2020:
At the recent national Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) Awards for Planning Excellence, the Town of Gawler Civic Centre was awarded the President’s Award.
In his presentation, Steve O’Connor, the National President of PIA, stated to all the winners that the Town of Gawler project was the sole recipient of the President’s Award this year. He was most impressed in respect to the quality and scope of the heritage restoration and use of what are obviously two of the most significant heritage buildings within the Gawler Township. He also acknowledged it was a difficult decision within a very competitive field and that the Gawler Civic Centre was the “Best of the Best” in respect to the projects under consideration.
The national recognition of this amazing project is a well-deserved acknowledgement of the sensitive revitalization and integration of these two State Heritage buildings, preserving them for generations to come and transforming them into an amazing community and business hub.
You can view the announcement of our win at: https://youtu.be/mioB4XvNUtM.
May 2020:
Gawler Cultural Heritage Centre Staff, together with a dedicated team of volunteers, have been working for many months developing an online catalogue of items contained within the Gawler Heritage Collection. This process has involved digitally photographing or scanning items and loading the electronic images into the Centre’s cloud-based catalogue system e-hive.
There are over 4,000 items in the Collection including colonial paintings, historic books, photographs, objects and documents together with a reference library for researchers interested in family and local Gawler history.
Images and descriptions of 842 items from the Collection are now available for the public to access online at:
https://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/about-gawler/gawler-heritage/heritage-collection-1
“Cataloguing the entire Gawler Heritage Collection is a long-term, ongoing project for the Gawler Cultural Heritage Centre,” said Mayor Redman. “The hard work of staff and volunteers developing the online catalogue provides the community with an opportunity to further explore the fascinating items that make up this important Collection.”
March 2020:
Council has been monitoring ongoing developments related to the COVID-19 or Coronavirus outbreak with the Australian Government’s Department of Health being the primary source of information, with the following initial response...
Council CEO Henry Inat advises..."The following Council operated facilities will remain open, including continuing to provide face to face services, subject to further advice from National and State Governments as the situation changes:
- Gawler Administration Centre – including Customer Service
- Gawler Civic Centre – including Library Service
- Gawler Sport and Community Centre”
Given the health risks involved in large public gatherings as per government advice and to ensure the safety of our staff and community, the following range of non-essential programs have been cancelled until further notice:
- Youth programs
- Gawler Sport and Community Centre Programs
- Council delivered Gentle Fitness Programs
- Library programs including Story Time
- Gawler Civic Centre Programs
- Gawler Aquatic Centre Programs
January 2020:
A broad range of events and activities will be on show across the 2020 Gawler Fringe, starting on Sunday 16 February and running through until Saturday 14 March, 2020.
The Gawler Civic Centre will be the 2020 Gawler Fringe Hub, with the Adelaide Fringe registered venue being the focus for this year’s festivities.
The 2020 Gawler Fringe Program is available online at www.gawler.sa.gov.au/gawlerfringe or in hard copy at Council customer service points and other venues across Gawler.
December 2019:
The Fringe will again make its mark on Gawler with a range of events taking place across the Town for the month of the Adelaide Fringe (14 February to 15 March, 2020).
The Gawler Civic Centre is a registered Adelaide Fringe venue and will be the main Gawler Fringe Hub in 2020. Fringe festivities kick off at the Civic Centre with the Opening Event on Sunday 16 February, 10am to 4pm.
Keep an eye out for the 2020 Gawler Fringe Program that will be available in the New Year online at www.gawler.sa.gov.au/gawlerfringe or hard copies at a range of venues around Town.
December 2019:
The Gawler Civic Centre wins multiple excellence awards for architecture and planning.
The Gawler Civic Centre has recently taken out multiple awards for excellence in both architecture and planning. Earlier this year at the 2019 State Architecture Awards, the Gawler Civic Centre won the top gong for Public Architecture and most recently at the 2019 Planning Institute of Australia award night, not one but two awards were bestowed on the innovative centre. The Civic Centre won the Great Place Award and then we were thrilled and honoured when the Minister for Planning awarded his top pick of the night to the Town of Gawler and the Civic Centre.
The Minister’s Award is given to the overall winner of the South Australian Awards for Planning Excellence and is judged personally by the Minister for Planning Hon. Stephan Knoll, MP.
June 2019:
The Gawler Civic Centre's cost have been finalised.
“The once-in-a-generation project to restore and refurbish the State Heritage Listed Institute and Town Hall buildings, after decades of neglect, has understandably required important capital investment to bring these buildings back to life,” said Mayor Redman. “When Council signed the contract with Badge Constructions in March 2017 the allocated budget was $14.311m. What became apparent during the redevelopment is that the state of various elements of both buildings was worse than initially thought. This required Council to increase the budget for completing the project.”
Council has undertaken an independent audit of the Gawler Civic Centre Redevelopment as part of the formal acquittal process attached to the Australian Government’s National Stronger Regions Fund from which Council received $5.6m towards the project. This audit has validated the final cost of the Redevelopment being $15.470m.
December 2018:
The Gawler Civic Centre Achieves Practical Completion on Tuesday 18th December 2018!
“Just over 20 months of demolition, extensive remediation and construction, and final commissioning have resulted in what we believe is a spectacular result for Gawler and the wider community,” said Mayor Redman. “It’s very exciting to see Council’s vision for the Centre come to life and the transformation that has occurred since construction started.”
September 2018:
Business Innovation Hub operator announcement
“Council is excited to announce that Andrew Morris has been engaged to manage the Business Innovation Hub (Hub) within the Gawler Civic Centre,” said Mayor Redman. “The Hub will be a membership based facility encouraging collaboration and the use digital technologies and solutions to work smarter and grow.”
Volunteers wanted for the Gawler Civic Centre…
As the Gawler Civic Centre redevelopment nears completion, the Town of Gawler is seeking expressions of interest from members of the public who would like to provide professional, personalised and informative guided tours of the completed facility. Tours are planned to be held every day once the Centre officially opens in early 2019.
Council will provide all selected Civic Centre volunteers with the training and support that they require to successfully participate in this exciting new volunteer program.
July 2018:
“Council is excited to announce that Red Centre Enterprises has been engaged to manage the Social Enterprise Café within the Gawler Civic Centre,” said Mayor Redman. “Red Centre Enterprises will operate an Australian Bush Foods Social Enterprise Café that uses the best of local South Australian produce, provides high quality meals and have a positive cultural impact within the local community.”
April 2018:
May is History month...The Town of Gawler are directly involved with two South Australian History Festival events, including a Gawler Historic Hotel Walking Tour and an informative talk - Gawler: Past, Present and Future. Bookings are essential for both events and can be made via the Gawler Visitor Information Centre, in person, or by phoning (08) 8522 9260.
February 2018:
GigCity Adelaide network is coming to the Business Innovation Hub within the new Gawler Civic Centre! Read the exciting announcement, including explanation of this high-speed (ten-gigabit) connection here.
As the redevelopment has advanced, it has become clear that significant but unforeseen remediation works are required, particularly with regard to the heritage stonework, drainage and waterproofing of these historic civic buildings. Read more from Mayor Redman here.
2017:
Gawler Club - history and their temporary move from the Town Hall/Institute.
Much remediation work was completed to both the Town Hall and Institute buildings during the renovations. To view the time lapse video's click below:
Demolition of the 1980's red brick extension to the Town Hall (May 2017)
Contact
Phone: 08 8522 9267
Email: civic.centre@gawler.sa.gov.au
Social: Facebook
89-91 Murray Street, Gawler SA 5118