View source for Town of Gawler

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date= June 2015}}
{{Infobox Australian place | type = lga
| name     = Town of Gawler
| state    = sa
| image    = Adelaide-LGA-Gawler-MJC.png
| caption  =
| pop      = <!--leave blank to draw the latest automatically from Wikidata-->
| density  = 608 
| area     = 41.1
| est      = 1857
| seat     = [[Gawler, South Australia|Gawler]]
| mayor    = Nathan Shanks
| region   = Barossa, Light and Lower North<ref>{{cite web|title=Barossa, Light and Lower North|url=http://www.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/23378/Barossa_Light_and_Lower_North_SA_Government_region.pdf|publisher=Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure|accessdate=24 June 2015}}</ref>
| logo     = Logo of the Town of Gawler.svg
| logo_upright   = 1.2
| url      = http://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/
| stategov = [[Electoral district of Light|Light]]
| fedgov   = [[Division of Spence|Spence]]
| near-w   = [[City of Playford]]
| near-nw  = [[Light Regional Council]]
| near-n   = [[Light Regional Council]]
| near-ne  = [[Light Regional Council]]
| near-e   = [[Barossa Council]]
| near-se  = [[Barossa Council]]
| near-s   = [[City of Playford]]
| near-sw  = [[City of Playford]]
}}

The '''Town of Gawler''' is a [[Local government in Australia|local government area]] located north of [[Adelaide city centre]] in [[South Australia]] containing [[Gawler, South Australia|Gawler]] and its suburbs. The corporate town was established in 1857 due to the township's residents' dissatisfaction at being governed by three different district councils.

The Town of Gawler is located within the officially declared boundaries of the [[Adelaide|Adelaide metropolitan area]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Adelaide metropolitan boundary (as declared on 11 November 1993)|url=http://www.atlas.sa.gov.au/files/metro_Adelaide_bnd.pdf|publisher=Government of South Australia|accessdate=24 June 2015}}</ref>  {{As of|2001}} 1.0% of the population were [[Indigenous Australian]], and 76.3% were born in Australia.

The current mayor of Gawler is '''Nathan Shanks''', who was elected in 2025 following the resignation of long-serving mayor '''Karen Redman''' on 30 May 2025.<ref name="Resignation2025">https://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0042/1829778/2025-6-24-Town-of-Gawler-confirms-Acting-Mayor-and-appoints-new-Deputy-Mayor.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com</ref>

'''Shanks''' was first elected to the Town of Gawler Council as an Area Councillor in 2018. He later served as '''Deputy Mayor''' from 2022–2023 and again from 2024–2025, before stepping into the role of '''Acting Mayor''' between June and September 2025.<ref name="Resignation2025" /> His election as Mayor in late 2025 marked the continuation of his long-standing involvement in local government and community leadership.<ref name="Election2025">https://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/gawler-mayor?utm_source=chatgpt.com</ref>

'''Redman''', who had served as mayor since 2014, was the '''first elected female mayor''' in Gawler’s history and was re-elected for further terms in 2018 and 2022 before her resignation in 2025.<ref name="Resignation2025" />

==History==
Local government was established in the area from 1853 with the creation of the [[District Council of Barossa West]] (covering the western half of the [[Hundred of Barossa]]). Residents of the township of Gawler, at the confluence of the North and South Para rivers, were dissatisfied with the state of local governance. The township intersects four separate cadastral divisions, being at the corners of the hundreds of [[Hundred of Mudla Wirra|Mudla Wirra]], [[Hundred of Nuriootpa|Nuriootpa]], Barossa and [[Hundred of Munno Para|Munno Para]]. As such, the east half of the township was locally governed by the Barossa West council, the western half by the [[District Council of Mudla Wirra (1854–1867)|District Council of Mudla Wirra]] and the southern outskirts by the [[District Council of Munno Para West]]. The Barossa West council was seated at [[Lyndoch, South Australia|Lyndoch]] some {{convert|13|km}} east of the township. The Gawler ratepayers petitioned for their own local government, centred in Gawler, and the '''Corporation of the Town of Gawler''' was established on 9 July 1857.

{{expand section|date=September 2017}}

==Council==
Council consists of 11 Elected Members comprising a Mayor, and 10 Area Councillors.<br>The current council {{as of|November 2022|lc=on}} is:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Gawler |first=Town of |date=2020-01-10 |title=Council Members |url=https://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/your-council/elected-members |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=Town of Gawler Council |language=en}} </ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Ward!!colspan="2"|Party Affiliation!! style=width:12em |Councillor!!First elected!! style=width:20em |Notes
|-
| |Mayor
| {{Australian party style|Independent}}|&nbsp;
| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| Nathan Shanks
|2018
| Deputy Mayor 2022-2023, 2024-2025, Acting Mayor 2025 (June - September) Current Mayor 2025
|-
| rowspan="10" |Area Councillor
| {{Australian party style|Labor}}|&nbsp;
| [[Australian_Labor_Party|Labor]]
| Cody Davies
|2018
| Deputy Mayor 2023-2024
|-
| {{Australian party style|Independent}}|&nbsp;
| Independent
| Helen Hennessy
|2022
|
|-
| {{Australian party style|Independent}}|&nbsp;
| Independent
| David Hughes
|2010
|Deputy Mayor 2011-2013,2015-2016
|-
| {{Australian party style|Independent}}|&nbsp;
| Independent
| Paul Koch
|2010
|
|-
| {{Australian party style|Independent}}|&nbsp;
| Independent
| Mick Launer
|2022
|
|-
| {{Australian party style|Independent}}|&nbsp;
| Independent
| Ethan White
|2022
| Deputy Mayor 2025 - present
|-
| {{Australian party style|Labor}}|&nbsp;
| Labor
| Isaac Solomon
|2022
|
|-
| {{Australian party style|Independent}}|&nbsp;
| Independent
| Brian Sambell
|2006
|Mayor 2006-2014 
|-
| {{Australian party style|Liberal}}|&nbsp;
| [[Liberal_Party_of_Australia|Liberal]]
| Jim Vallelonga
|2014
|
|-
|
|Independent
|Karen Redman
|2010
|Mayor 2014-2025 (Resigned May 2025)
|}

===Mayors===
As of 2023, 41 people have served as mayor of Gawler in 58 terms of office since the first to hold the position, Richard James Turner, in 1857.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gawlerhistory.com/index.php/Mayors_of_Gawler|title=Mayors of Gawler|publisher=Gawler History Team|date=23 November 2019|access-date=1 May 2023}}</ref>

{{col begin}}
{{col-3}}
* 1857–1860: Richard James Turner
* 1861–1864: [[James Martin (South Australian politician)|James Martin]]
* 1865: George Nott
* 1866: John Mitchell
* 1867: Thomas Flett Loutit
* 1867: Thomas Oliver Jones
* 1868: [[James Martin (South Australian politician)|James Martin]]
* 1869–1870: Edward Clement
* 1871–1872: Thomas Oliver Jones
* 1873–1874: William Faulkner Wincey
* 1875–1876: John Jones
* 1877: James Dawson
* 1877–1878: [[James Martin (South Australian politician)|James Martin]]
* 1879–1880: Henry Edward Bright Jr
* 1881–1882: Herbert Dean
* 1883: John Charles Wilkinson
* 1884–1885: [[Leonard Samuel Burton]]
* 1886: Benjamin Edward Deland
* 1887: [[James Martin (South Australian politician)|James Martin]]
* 1888: [[Leonard Samuel Burton]]
* 1889–1890: John Jones
{{col-3}}
* 1891–1893: William Henry Cox
* 1894–1895: Edward Lucas
* 1896: William Henry Cox
* 1897–1898: Frank Dixon Harris
* 1899: William Henry Cox
* 1900: Robert King Thomson
* 1901–1902: Charles George Rebbeck
* 1903–1904: George Bright
* 1905–1906: James Fergusson
* 1907: Arthur Smith
* 1908–1909: William M. Dawkins
* 1910–1911: Charles George Rebbeck
* 1912–1913: Frederick David Temby
* 1914–1917: William Henry Cox
* 1918–1919: Hermann Ludwig Marsh
* 1920–1921: James Busbridge Jr
* 1922–1924: William Henry Cox
* 1925–1926: Michael Lynch
* 1927–1929: Dashwood Charles Connor
* 1930: James Busbridge Jr
* 1931–1934: William Henry Cox
{{col-3}}
* 1934–1938: William Rice
* 1938–1946: William Antwis
* 1946–1952: Adolph Louis Ferdinand Ey{{efn|name=Ey|Commonly known as Louis Ey.}}
* 1952–1959: Elliott Chivell Goodger
* 1959–1960: Adolph Louis Ferdinand Ey{{efn|name=Ey}}
* 1960–1968: Elliott Chivell Goodger
* 1968–1972: [[Bruce Eastick|Bruce Charles Eastick]]
* 1972–1978: [[Cec Creedon|Cecil William "Cec" Creedon]]
* 1978–1989: Gilbert Barry "Gil" Harnett
* 1989–1992: Robert Lethbridge Bartlett
* 1992–1993: [[Tony Piccolo|Antonio "Tony" Piccolo]]
* 1993–2000: [[Bruce Eastick|Bruce Charles Eastick]]
* 2000–2006: [[Tony Piccolo|Antonio "Tony" Piccolo]]
* 2006 (May to Nov): Helena Mary Dawkins
* 2006–2014: Brian Donald Sambell
* 2014–2025: Karen Redman
* 2025–Present: Nathan Christopher Shanks
{{col-end}}

{{notelist}}

==Suburbs==
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Bibaringa, South Australia|Bibaringa]] (5118) (part; shared with [[City of Playford]])
* [[Evanston, South Australia|Evanston]] (5116)
* [[Evanston Gardens, South Australia|Evanston Gardens]] (5116)
* [[Evanston Park, South Australia|Evanston Park]] (5116) (part; shared with [[City of Playford]])
* [[Evanston South, South Australia|Evanston South]] (5116)
* [[Gawler, South Australia|Gawler]] (5118)
* [[Gawler East, South Australia|Gawler East]] (5118)
* [[Gawler South, South Australia|Gawler South]] (5118)
* [[Gawler West, South Australia|Gawler West]] (5118)
* [[Hewett, South Australia|Hewett]] (5118)
* [[Hillier, South Australia|Hillier]] (5116) (part; shared with [[City of Playford]])
* [[Kudla, South Australia|Kudla]] (5115)
* [[Reid, South Australia|Reid]] (5118) (part; shared with [[Light Regional Council]])
* [[Willaston, South Australia|Willaston]] (5118)
{{div col end}}

==Waste management and recycling==
[[Garbage]], [[recycling]], and [[green waste]] collection services are provided by the [[Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority]].

==See also==
* [[Gawler, South Australia]]
* [[List of Adelaide suburbs]]
* [[Local Government Areas of South Australia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/ Official site]
*[http://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=215/ Town of Gawler's first 50 years]

{{Town of Gawler suburbs}}
{{Local Government Areas of South Australia}}

{{coord|34|36|S|138|45|E|type:adm2nd_region:AU-SA_source:dewiki|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Town Of Gawler}}
[[Category:Local government areas in Adelaide|Gawler]]
[[Category:Local government areas of South Australia|Gawler]]
[[Category:1857 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:Gawler, South Australia]]


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