Gawler
Gawler Mangroves
Is reputedly the first country town in the state of South Australia, and is named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is located 44 km (25 miles) north of the state capital, Adelaide, and is close to the major wine producing district of the 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.
History
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 (£2/9/5d per hectare). Gawler was established through a 4000 acre (1618 hectare) “special survey” applied for by Henry Dundas Murray and John Reid and a syndicate of ten other colonists.
The town plan was devised by the colonial surveyor William Light, and was the only town planned by him other than Adelaide. William Jacob used Light’s plans and laid out the town.
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 dissimilar to Adelaide’s one square mile (2.6 km²) grid; 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 present, but Light was aware that he was planning a village, not a metropolis.
Gawler prospered early with the discovery of copper nearby at Kapunda and Burra, which resulted in Gawler becoming a resting stop to and from 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 nationhood. 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.
Gawler Main Street
Gawler had a horse street tram service from 1879 to 1931.
Culture
Gawler is a commercial centre for the Mid-North districts of South Australia and, increasingly, a dormitory town for Adelaide. The hit Australian television program about the McLeod sisters, McLeod’s Daughters, is shot at “Kingsford”, a working property outside Gawler’s northeastern fringe.
Former Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann was born in Gawler in 1970.
Gawler railway station
The railway station was originally built as the terminus location to the Gawler township in 1872. The station was built on pastoral land owned by the local parliamentary member of the period.
Subsequently, it had a horse drawn tram servicing Gawler’s main street (Murray Street), almost a kilometre away. With the rail extension to the Barossa Valley, the Gawler Central station (as a timber construction) was built.
The current station contains a kiosk and three platforms. The station also possesses stock yards, housing the TransAdelaide rolling stock.
Gawler South Australia
The Gawler Lions Club has adopted the station for restoration work. It now houses an art gallery, displaying local artists, and is open on weekends. The club also successfully lobbied for a steam engine built by James Martin and Sons, previously located on Thomas Terrace between the Gawler Oval and Gawler Central Stations. The locomotive is also in the process of being restored.
It is primarily a hotspot for graffiti and crimes such as muggings and auto theft, and recommended that you do not leave any valuables in your vehicle.
Platforms/Services
Gawler station is served by one train every 15 minutes towards Adelaide and one train every 30 minutes towards Gawler Central in off-peak, with additional services during peak hours. It is also a terminus station, with every second service terminating here, while all other services run to Gawler Central. Services on weekends are every 30 minutes in each direction with trains stopping at the majority of stations to Adelaide. Night services are hourly.
Media
Buckland Park Weather Radar Station
The station building has appeared in a number of television shows and movies including The Shiralee and McLeod’s Daughters.
Layout
The housing lots have been arranged in several different directions. This takes into account the stages of development around the suburb. There is a north-south grid orientation around the south-westerly section of the suburb (by the railway station). The shopping precinct along Adelaide Road provides a grid-fashion at approximately 45 degrees to the south-westerly grid. A Housing Trust subdivision was built in the post-World War Two period on the river flats, between the South Para and the Gawler Rivers.
The suburb today
A new subdivision during the 1990s was started on the foothills, adjacent to the South Para River. The shopping precinct is still very commercially viable, extending Gawler’s central business district across the Adelaide Road Bridge (on the South Para River) along an almost one kilometre road length.
Governance
Gawler South is governed at the local level by the Town of Gawler. Gawler South lies in the state electoral district of Light and the federal electoral division of Wakefield.
South Gawler Football Club
The South Gawler Football Club is a country Australian rules football club, founded by James Fitzgerald in the Gawler South area of the Barossa Valley town of Gawler, South Australia, in 1889. The Lions, who wear royal blue and white hoops, currently compete in the Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association. Their club and oval today situated at Eldred Riggs Reserve, Evanston, in Gawler.
Gawler Mangroves
The Lions have produced some champion footballers, many who have played SANFL and VFL league and state football. Names such as Winky Price, Eddie Mahoney, Howard Abbott, Laurie Rusby, John Nottle, Robin Mulholland, Steven Officer and Eddie Schwerdt lead up to Sam Butler who became their first professional footballer with the West Coast Eagles in 2004 – and a member of the Eagles’ 2006 AFL Premiership. Defender Yves Sibenaler (six SANFL Premierships and over 100 league games) recently retired from the Central District Bulldogs, while Alan Obst (a 2007 Premiership player also with Centrals) is currently with the North Melbourne Kangaroos.
Other names of the club honoured by the membership include Charlie Nottle, Herbert “Popeye” Adams, Max Heinrich, Garry Hurst, Jeff Brown and Aaron Bevis. Former great strongman Gus Barker recently was elected as the club’s new president for 2010.
According to a number of forums covering country Australian Rules football, South Gawler is possibly one of the most successful football clubs in Australia. With 37 first-grade premierships recorded and verified, discussion in 2008 suggested that the Lions currently have accumulated the second-most premierships in South Australia and were the equal fourth winningest Australian Rules club in Australia.
Although the Lions’ last Grand Final appearance was in 1996, and they have not won an A Grade premiership since 1993, their junior development programs continue to produce success with the club’s Junior Colts winning the 2008 flag and Senior Colts recently taking out the 2009 premiership.
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