Historical Australian Towns: Gawler, SA: South Australia's Oldest Country Town

Gawler is located approximately 40km north of the Adelaide CBD, at the junction of the South Para and North Para rivers, which form the Gawler River.

Named after the second Governor of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler, the area is part of the traditional lands of the Kaurna Aboriginal people.

The Kaurna people

The name Kaurna is probably derived from kornar meaning "men; people" in the neighbouring Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri languages. The word Miyurna means "men; people" in the Kaurna language.

German missionaries recorded the Kaurna Aboriginal name for the Port Gawler area as being "Muliakki" (Mullayakki or, in our New Spelling, Murlayaki) which may mean "dry lowland".

The Kaurna people lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle moving about according to the seasons and food sources. However, they did engage in fire-stick farming, a practice whereby fires were deliberately lit in bushland so that scrub would be cleared enabling the growth of grass for native animals to eat.

"To the west on the Adelaide plains were the Kaurna, practising only the rite of circumcision without many of the ritual elaborations that came with the more drastic sub-incisional practices. They were nomadic to a greater degree but living in areas so relatively well-watered that the main seasonal movements were the only forced ones they faced. Each horde tended to travel in summer along the coastal part of their hordal territory and the wintered in-the timbered foothill country, sheltering in cover of gigantic and often hollow red gum trees along the river banks. Often as a basis for shelter, they used a fallen tree and hollowed out beneath it, a practice hazardous when floods and heavy rain destroyed their fires and flooded their sleeping places. In summer, of course, they did not live near these gigantic trees (Eucalyptus Camaldulensis) for under stress of summer heat, red gums have a habit of suddenly throwing off great limbs apparently through build up of osmotic pressure within their tissues. This was a happening sufficiently frequent to cause fear in them of the trees."

Norman Tindale (1974)

Two German missionaries, Christian Gottlob Teichelmann and Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann, were sent to South Australia by the Dresden Mission Society arriving in Adelaide in October 1838. They made important records of the Kaurna language. The missionaries joint book "Outlines of a Grammar: Vocabulary and Phraseology of the Aboriginal Language of South Australia, Spoken by the Natives in and for Some Distance around Adelaide in 1840" contains over 2000 words in the Kaurna language.

Matthew Moorhouse, Protector of Aborigines in South Australia, also recorded several Kaurna songlines. Information about the Kaurna people have been obtained from his reports and official correspondence. Efforts to revive the Kaurna language began in 1990.

Kaurna women married between the ages of ten and twelve. However, as with most Aboriginal groups, freedom of marriage was restricted by the prohibitions against the marriage of certain close relatives and by the rule of exogamy, that is, marrying outside one’s group (1.). The practice of "milla mangkondi", or wife stealing, was also common (2.).

The Kaurna people used the term "Nokunna" for an imaginary being, like a man, who prowls at night and kills: an assassin (Teichelmann and Schürmann, 1840).

"According to the opinions of the Aborigines, few of them die a natural death. The reason of a natural death is kuinyo, meaning death, a deceased person, or a being of small figure, large abdomen, disagreeable smell, and afraid of fire; therefore he generally comes in the night, when the fires are out ... In the night they dread more particularly the nokunna, a distant native, who steals upon them, stabs them, and they must generally die. His coming they prevent by striking with their wirri, the air round the hut in different directions, before they lie down, but keep, besides this precaution, all night a watch."

Teichelmann, G.G.(1841), Aborigines of South Australia, SA Wesleyan Methodist Auxiliary Missionary Society, Adelaide, p. 10.

The picture represents four Aboriginals getting ready to dance at a "Corrobboree", Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 1 July 1905

Aboriginal children with dog, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 6 June 1914

"Showing tribal marks", Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 8 March 1902

Native of South Australia, Aboriginal female with child on her back sitting on a chair, circa 1871, SLSA

Invaritji (Amelia Savage), a Kaurna woman who died in 1929, was the last fluent Kaurna speaker.

Kaurna cultural artefacts are very rare, but the work of early missionaries and other researchers has enabled a modern revival of both language and culture.

Aboriginal exhibits at the South Australian Museum

1800s

Sealers

"In 1801 the first Europeans arrived in Kaurna country. They were the sealers, who made their camps at several places on the southeast coast of South Australia. They were tough and violent men, many were ex-convicts, who lived off the sealing and whaling that was good in these waters. They kidnapped many Aboriginal women, Kaurna among them, to live with them in the shanty towns that they erected. Conditions in these places were very primitive and the women were treated like slaves by most of the men".

Howard Groom 1986

However, Lynette Russell, in Roving Mariners: Australian Aboriginal Whalers and Sealers in the Southern Oceans, 1790–1870 (SUNY series), argues that there was a lot of ethnic diversity in the sealing trade: The men that journeyed to the Australian and Pacific whaling and sealing industries came from various localities. "There were African Americans, Tahitians, English, French, and Anglo‐Americans, as well as many labeled Lascars or Bengali."

Russell also examines whether there was more to Aboriginal women in these realtionships than "disempowered victim of the colonial encounter or in violent resistance mode".

Iain Stuart in Sea Rats, Bandits and Roistering Buccaneers: What Were the Bass Strait Sealers Really Like?, argues that that sealers have been characterised by an uncritical use of documentary sources as "rat-bags" and "scum".

1802: Investigator and Le Geographe

On 8 April 1802, two ships met, one sailing from the east and the other from the west. The English ship, Investigator, was commanded by Matthew Flinders, and Nicolas Baudin was the captain of the French ship Le Geographe. Flinders and Baudin were charting the "unknown coast" of Terra Australis and exchanged information. Flinders later named this location Encounter Bay.

HM Sloop Investigator: etching by Geoffrey Ingleton, 1937

Aboriginal people were soon to lose their identity, language, culture and land.

1837: Colonel William Light

South Australia as a British colony was established as a commercial venture by the South Australia Company, which was formed in London in 1835, through the sale of land to free settlers at £1 per acre (£2/9/5d per hectare).

In 1837, Colonel William Light, the Surveyor-General for the Colony of South Australia, camped at "Dead Man’s Pass" on the South Para river as part of his exploration of the Barossa Valley. He decided that the location had potential for establishing South Australia’s first country town.

A Special Survey was carried out of the area and the town was laid out by William Jacob from a plan supplied by Colonel Light. Areas of parkland were included. The new town was named Gawler after the then Governor of South Australia.

William Light (1786-1839), soldier and surveyor

In March 1838, four young men in their twenties, John Hill, William Wood, Charles Willis, and John Oakden, passed through Gawler and camped at Cockatoo Valley to the east.

The explorer, Edward John Eyre, made two journeys north of Adelaide to Lake Torrens and across Eyre Peninsula, coming to the Gawler Ranges in 1839, naming them after the then Governor of South Australia. At the time, the town of Gawler consisted of a few tents and huts.

1840s

During the 1840s, copper was found near Gawler, at Kapunda and Burra, bringing a much needed economic stimulus to the area, with the town becoming an important hub for accommodation and transport. During the copper boom, over a hundred bullock drays went through the town of Gawler carrying smelted ore, every day.

Agriculture also developed around Gawler.

During Charles Sturt's exploration into Central Australia, he passed through Gawler in 1844 and stayed at a hotel. At this time, there were two hotels in the town, fifty houses and 212 people.

In 1845 Stephen King built a steam-powered flour mill (Victoria Mill) to grind locally grown crops. The Union Mill was established at the southern end of Murray Street by Harrison Bros. in 1853 (later Adelaide Milling Co.) . (in 1861, King joined John McDougll Stuart's transcontinental expedition party)

Union Mill at the southern end of Murray Street by Harrison Bros. in 1853 (later Adelaide Milling Co.) Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Tuesday 4 January 1927

John Reid and his wife Jane (nee Livingstone), with their 6 children immigrated to Australia from Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland aboard the ship Orleana arriving in South Australia in 1839. This family were the first settlers to come to Gawler. The Reid family home was called Clonlea and was located inside the entrance of today's Clonlea Park.

Hutchinson Road "Clonlea" demolished 1956. Gawler History

Buchfelde

Buchfelde, which is now a suburb of Gawler, was settled in 1848, by Dr Richard von Schomburgk and his brother Otto, who was born in Prussia in 1811. They emigrated to Australia, as they were on the blacklist during a period of political upheaval in Europe. The area is now a suburb of Gawler and is named after the brothers' financial benefactor, Leopold von Buch, who helped them flee Germany. The South Australian Register reported in 1850:

"The German Company has purchased a section of land about four miles from Gawler Town on the Gawler River. (section 44 in the Hundred of Mudla Wirra) It is proposed to lay out as a township to be called Buchfelde, after a celebrated professor of that name. A subscription has been raised among several German families in the neighbourhood for the erection of a church and school and application has been made to the government for a grant in aid". The whole group of new settlers were soon referred to as the "Forty Niners".

South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), Tuesday 17 December 1850

Richard Schomburgk in 1865

The Father of Gawler: James Martin

James Martin, often referred to as the “Father of Gawler”, established James Martin & Co. in Gawler in 1848 and began to manufacture reapers. The business, was set up to take advantage of the mining boom, was initially engaged in manufacturing bullock drays and then branched out into agricultural equipment. Later, in 1888, Martin was granted a contract by the South Australian Government to manufacture steam locomotives.

Trucking yard and works, Gawler, SA. The statue of James Martin.was erected on the corner of Calton Road and Murray Street in Gawler, 15 August 1903 and later moved to Whitlaw Terrace. Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 26 September 1906

Employees photographed in the workshops at the James Martin foundry, Gawler. About 1900

1850s

The Kingsford Hotel (originally the Globe Inn) opened for business in 1851.

The Gawler Show, which is the oldest and largest Regional Show in South Australia, was established in 1854.

Rail Arrives

The arrival of the railway in 1857, from Adelaide to Gawler, led to further development of the town and in the following year, suburbs were surveyed.

Gawler's first train, n.d. Gawler History

The Gawler Institute was founded in 1857. In 1859, the Institute had a competition with a prize of ten guineas for the best words and music for a “‘national patriotic song”.

"The Song of Australia" won the competition. The words were written by English-born poet Caroline Carleton, and the music for the song was composed by the German-born Carl Linger. Listen here

The Gawler Institute, Gawler, SA

1860s

One of Gawler's most famous residents was the Scottish born John McKinlay, who was nicknamed "Big John" as he was 6 ft 4 inches (193 cm) tall. In 1861 McKinlay led an expedition in search of the explorers Burke and Wills. The two men had already died by the time McKinley set off on his expedition, but McKinlay did locate their graves.

On 17 January 1863, at St George's Church, Gawler, John McKinlay married Jane Pile.

Dr Dawes Photo of Gawler, SA, c1860, Taken from Calton Road overlooking High Street and Murray Street. Colourised by Church Hill Photography Sept. 2020, Gawler History

Gawler evolved from a staid, planned village into an industrial town. However, Gawler also garnered a reputation as a centre of education and intellectual thought, dubbed the "colonial Athens" during the 1860s. The town established many educational institutions and appeared to have a vibrant intellectual and cultural life.

In 1861, the town of Gawler became the first stop for the expedition led by John McDouall Stuart. Stuart stopped after his horse reared, striking Stuart's temple with its hoof, rendering him unconscious, then trampling his right hand, dislocating two joints and tearing flesh and nail from the first finger.

Gawler, SA, around 1869

The Bunyip

The Gawler Humbug Society and the creation of The Bunyip weekly newspaper in 1863, added to Gawler's intellectual and bohemian reputation, with its articles featuring satire and cheeky wit.

The Bunyip Newspaper building, Gawler South Australia

From High Street looking towards the Globe Hotel 1865 to 1875, Gawler, SA, Gawler History

1870s

Criterion Hotel, Gawler, South Australia [picture] / J. Taylor, 1871, SLSA

John McKinlay died in Gawler on 31 December 1872.

Oaklands is a rambling single storey stone homestead with wide verandahs, built c. 1860. Members of the Pile family (and their peacock) are grouped in the driveway. The tall man at the rear of the group may be John McKinley. The garden looks recently planted and carriage wheels have left marks in the gravel drive. [On back of photograph] ''Oaklands' / Residence of James Pile, Gawler East / (and Mr. John McKinley, circa 1872, SLSA

Murray Street 156 cnr Cowan Street, Gawler, SA, c1877 -Piles Building [not shown] was built in 1878

Horse Tram

Gawler had a horse street tram service from 1879 to 1931.

Murray Street showing Marchant's studio at #82, Gawler, SA, Gawler History. Two horse drawn trams operated between the Gawler Railway Station and Murray Street for 52 years (1879 to 1931)

Waterworks

In 1879 spring water was found along the banks of the South Para River. This led to a storage tank being constructed on Calton Hill. The water was pumped up the hill and ran down to the houses and businesses.

The stone building on the corner of Julian Terrace and Murray Street was the original Waterworks building, completed in 1882. The well was under the building's floorboards.

The Barossa Reservoir was built on the South Para River in 1901, and Gawler then obtained much of its water from the reservoir.

View from Ayres St of the waterworks, Gawler, SA, n.d. Gawler History

Gawler Primary School opened in January 1878 as the Gawler Model School.

Decorated street scene on the occasion of the opening of the Gawler Town Hall, 20 November 1878. The grand opening caused much excitement in the town and the local shops were decorated for the occasion. This photograph shows an archway which had been created over Murray Street. The attached banners read "God Save the Queen" and "Welcome Sir Jervois". A crown made from light bulbs adorns the top of the banner and flags are flying on either side of the arch. SLSA

Fire Brigade members with their hand pump and horsedrawn wagon. A researcher has provided the following information: The first person from the left is John Frederick May, known to all as Fred, and was made the first Fire Warden of Gawler at the end of 1879. For further information see the book, 'History of Gawler, 1837-1908' by E.H. Coombe, pages 167, 397. 1879, SLSA

1880s

A photograph of the Gawler Belt Inn in 1880. Gawler Belt is a locality to the northwest of Gawler in South Australia. The Gawler Belt Inn stood approximately where the Redbanks Road interchange on the Gawler Bypass is now, SLSA

Commercial Hotel, Murray Street, Gawler, South Australia, approximately 1880 / Samuel Sweet. National Library of Australia

Union Mills premises owned by W. Duffield & Co., Gawler, SA, 1882, SLSA

The May Brothers shop and foundry was established in 1885 on land situated on the southern side of Gawler, strategically placed next to the railway lines.

May's Patent Complete Harvester, Gawler, S.A. Kaye

1890s

On 11 April 1890, the town of Gawler, SA, celebrated as the first locomotive produced in South Australia rolled out of James Martin & Co.'s workshop.
No known copyright restrictions

Mr Nottie farming with horses and combine harvester, Gawler, SA, Gawler History

A steam locomotive at the railway sheds in Gawler, SA. SLSA

Gawler Station, SA, staff about 1893

The Rev. William Henry Coombs, remembered as "Canon Coombs", was an Anglican minister in Gawler, South Australia, from 1846. His record of 48 years serving the same parish has been recognised as an Australian record. (died 1896)

Mr Bob Barnet, boy Ebb Marchant (born 1887) and baby in pram, J. Rawlings. Dunsmore's residence and tailor shop in the background. Later in 1962 was the ANZ Bank, this is west of the Institute Building. Dunsmore Tailors also operated from Grenfell Street in Adelaide, Gawler, SA, 1897, SLSA

Albion Mill built in 1868 by James Dawson - c1895, the first one was destroyed by fire, Gawler, SA, Gawler History

Bunyip (Gawler, SA : 1863 - 1954), Friday 14 February 1896

Murray St, Gawler, SA, 1897, Gawler History

Funeral procession in horsedrawn vehicles outside Charles George Rebbeck Undertakers Parlour. He also owned the furniture store, was elected as Councillor for East Ward in 1899-1900 and 1909, and was Mayor of Gawler in 1901-02 and 1910-1911, 1897, SLSA

LONG MURRAY-STREET, GAWLER, APRIL 11, 1890, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 25 June 1898

James Martin died Thursday 28th December and his funeral was on Saturday 30th December 1899, Gawler, SA, Gawler History

1900s

Old Spot Hotel, 1900. Aussie Mobs, Gawler's, SA, oldest hotel, The Old Spot Hotel was known as the “Golden Fleece Hotel” when it first opened its doors on April 1st 1840

BLOCK ROAD, GAWLER SOUTH – c1900, It was called Block Road following the laying of large wooden blocks in two rows for the cart wheels to gain stability in wet weather. The road became more formally named Adelaide Road. Gawler History

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 5 July 1902

The Britannia Foundry (Established 1883 )was situated on Barnet Road, to the west of GawlerRailway Station. Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 14 October 1904

Gawler Institute and Town Hall. The Institute was founded in 1857 and opened with a concert. The Town Hall was opened in 1878 by the Governor, Sir William Jervois, circa 1904, SLSA

Sheard's Boot establishment, Murray St, Gawler, SA, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 26 September 1906

Agricultural College, Roseworthy, near Gawler, SA, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 26 September 1906

HB Crosby, Murray St, Gawler, SA, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 26 September 1906

Ariel bicycles Murray St, Gawler SA, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 26 September 1906

GAWLER, SA: A Jubilee parade described as celebrating local government, photographed passing the Gawler Institute where Sir George Le Hunte, Governor of South Australia, watches from a balcony on 9 October 1907; a horse drawn wagon carrying passengers and a banner promoting the Loyal Gawler Lodge of Manchester Unity, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, leads the procession. At rear of parade is the banner of the United Ancient Order of Druids. SLSA

JUBILEE CELEBRATION OF THE INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF GAWLER Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 19 October 1907, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 19 October 1907

Commercial Hotel on right, 1911 - now The Southern Hotel, Murray St, Gawler, SA, 1911, Gawler History

GAWLER PUBLIC SCHOOL: RE-OPENED BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, THURSDAY, MAY 18. SCHOOL REMODELLED ON HYGfENlC LINES. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 27 May 1911

RECEIVING THE MINISTER (Hon. F. W. Coneybeer), AND THJE DIRECTOR (Mr. A. Williams.), Gawler School, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 27 May 1911

The Governor at Gawler, SA, at the Hutchinson Hospital, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 7 December 1912

The Hutchinson Hospital was officially opened on the 19th November 1913.

Bunyip (Gawler, SA : 1863 - 1954), Friday 15 May 1914

Horse drawn tram in Gawler, showing the Institute, Town Hall, and Old Spot Hotel. The tram is being driven by Percy Taylor, Gawler, SA, SLSA, circa 1915

WW1

During World War 1 there was a Military Camp at the Evanston Racecourse.

Military Camp at the Evanston Racecourse, Gawler, SA, Sport (Adelaide, SA : 1911 - 1948), Friday 24 April 1914

Gawler Military Camp, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 18 April 1914

Red Cross, Essex House, Gawler, SA, 1917, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 7 November 1917

Gawler hockey girls, SA, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 1 September 1917

Gawler's record locomotive, SA, (largest built in South Australia), Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 19 October 1918

Possibly Australia Day celebrations at Gawler, August 1918, Gawler ,SA, Gawler History

Murray St, Gawler, SA, 1918, Gawler History

Australia Riggs Brass Band, Gawler, SA, 1919

1920s

Farming around Gawler, SA, in the 1920s, Gawler History

Storm at Gawler, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 26 January 1924

MATERNITY BLOCK AT HUTCHINSON HOSPITAL, GAWLER, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 8 May 1926

SMILINGLY THEY ANTICIPATE THEIR VISIT TO THE CITY Tim Disher (left) and Harold Disher, of Swan Rleach, who are included in the team of Australian natives which will stage a contest with Gawler players at the Jubilee Oval on Saturday, October 18. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 9 October 1924 (the Aboriginal team won)

Photo of Murray Street looking north. Prince Albert Hotel on right, A. Sheard Importer on left. The railway line in middle of Road. Gawler History

Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 10 March 1928, (Loft to righP Capt. \V. S. Hoskin g, D.S.O., M.C. (Staff Captain); Capt. B. J. Andrew (Brigade Major); Col. J. C. F. Slanc, D.S.O. (Camp Commandant); and Lieut.-Col J. A. M. Dur rant (D.A.Q.M.S.), D.S.O., M.C.

"A novel football match was played on the Jubilee Oval last Saturday afternoon between a representative team from Gawler and a team comprising aborigines along the Murray, and from the Point Pearce", Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 25 October 1924

1930s

Advertiser and Register (Adelaide, SA : 1931), Wednesday 29 July 1931

News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Monday 25 May 1931

Gawler District Band, Gawler, SA. c1931-34 Gawler History

Gawler, Murray Street. circa 1932. State Library of South Australia

Murray Street, Gawler, SA, c1933 tram lines removed c1932 Sams was publican Old Spot Hotel 1933-39, Gawler History

Staff at Brown's Egg Factory c1933. The factory was at the Southern end of Murray Street, where Coles service station is now situated. The Factory started operating in 1902, and later moved to new premises, trading as Farmer Brown, to where Mitre 10 is now situated. Gawler History

1930s Ron Mitchell & Minnie - Light Horse Training at Gawler, Gawler History

Gawler Show, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 30 September 1937

News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Monday 23 October 1939

Vickers gun drill, Gawler Camp. SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 14 December 1939

Armistice Day, Gawler Camp, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 16 November 1939

1940s and WWII

The RAAF Gawler Base at Willaston was established in 1942.

During WWII, there was a United States Army Camp at Sandy Creek, with about 10,000 servicemen, who would seek entertainment at Gawler during their free time. Dances were held seven days a week. In 1944, the army camp was used to hold Italian prisoners of war captured in North Africa.

WWII Telegraphists, Gawler, SA, Gawler History

R.A.F. Lancaster at Gawler Airfield 1945, Gawler History

Rae Bull in front of Qantas Liberator, Gawler, SA, Gawler History

Gawler Primary School, SA, opened in January 1878 as the Gawler Model School. About 1940s, Gawler History

Willaston netball, Gawler, SA, Gawler History

1945 Float in procession, Gawler, SA, Gawler History

Timer Fashions Limited

In 1942, the Commonwealth Government instigated a decentralisation policy which allowed Joe Jacob and Myer Emporium to set up a clothing manufacturing business in Gawler to manufacture children's clothing. The factory which was located in Murray street, was a success. And so, the partners formed the Gawler Manufacturing Company Limited, which required a larger factory. This was built on the Fotheringhams brewery site at the southern end of Murray Street.

The brand name "Timer" manufactured a range of clothing and employed many locals. The factory closed in 1978 after the government introduced tariff reductions on clothing and footwear, and cheap imports flooded the Australian market.

Timer Fashions factory sewing room, Gawler, South Australia, late 1940s

Gawler Show, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 25 September 1941

Gawler Tafe staff 1948 Misses Ness, Winckel,Rogers, Schahinger, and Lines, and Mrs Olafsen, Miss Tscharke and Mrs Hayhurst, Gawler History

1950s

One of Ampol's new electric pumps moves to the country takes its place beside other electric pumps at F.W. Hood's independent service station in Gawler South, South Australia, November, 1950, National Library of Australia

Murray Street view, c1958 - note the building adjacent to BankSA and 2013 Steinborners car-yard site, Gawler History

1960s

Murray Street, Gawler, SA, circa 1960, Gawler History

Murray St, Gawler, Sa, c1960s, Gawler History

Murray Institute of Tafe in Gawler, SA, circa 1960, Gawler History

Gawler Town Band, SA, 1962. Jim Hadden Snr. back row 3rd from left. His son, Jim is second from right on back row. Gawler History

H.G.Humphrys 134 Murray Street, Gawler, SA, 1967, Gawler History

Murray St Gawler, SA: Mik Mattei and his car - 8th June 1968, Gawler History

HUTCHINSON HOSPITAL – 1968 Nurse tutor Rita Argent’s farewell. Standing left to right: Phyllis Walsh, Rita Argent, Matron Eileen McGahan, Pat Snuggs and Delcie Schmidt. In front: Jessie Murdoch and Marian Davies, Gawler History

1970s

Murray St, Gawler, SA, c1970, Gawler History

Louis Ey building in Jacob Street c1970, Gawler, SA, Gawler History

Marchant's Photographic Studio - 112 Murray Street, Gawler, SA, 1970s, Gawler History

1980s

20th November 1985. Pupils from Gawler Primary School cleaning up the area around the old “Dolly Gray” locomotive on Victoria Terrace. "Clean Up Australia Day". Gawler History

LOWER END OF MURRAY STREET – July 1989, Most of the houses in the row were demolished in August 1989 to make way for the Village cinema, restaurant and video store complex. Gawler History

1990s

The 1994 Sutch is Light Christmas celebrations featured Hey Hey It's Saturday and Chunky Custard, as well as Miss Australia Jane Bagwanni and Miss South Australia Danielle Tanti.