Gawler. Old 19th century general store and residence from the 1860s still in use.

The origins of Gawler are unique in SA. When the Special Surveys of 1839 were offered for those with £4,000 to select 4,000 acres in an area of the person’s choice, a group of farming settlers who had voyaged out together on the ship the Orleana clubbed together to purchase a Special Survey at the junction of the North and South Para Rivers. Those settlers were John Reid, Henry Dundas Murray, E. Jerningham, Stephen King, William Porter, Patrick Tod, James Fotheringham, John Patterson, Thomas Stubbs, John Sutton, Robert Tod and the Reverend Howard. You will see many of these names on the street signs of Church Hill. These pioneering men came to a strict agreement and each donated a certain number of acres for the township of Gawler (named after the Governor of the day) in proportion to the total number of acres they had purchased from the 4,000 acres. Most of this group purchased around 300 acres and donated 7½ acres for the town and parklands but John Reid, Henry Murray, E Jerningham and

Stephen King purchased between 530 and 932 acres each. Hence the main street of Gawler is Murray Street. John Reid was the first to settle in the town and built a house called Clonlea. Stephen King built his sandstone mansion, Kingsford along the North Para a couple of miles out of Gawler. It was used for the TV series McLeod’s Daughters but is now an upmarket bed and breakfast establishment. Some of the others from this Special Survey appear to have sold their land and moved on quickly rather than settling in the emerging township. Fotheringham stayed and set up the town’s first brewery.

 

Social aspects and a sense of civic pride were always strong in Gawler. It was remarkable that in 1859 this small “gateway to the north” sponsored a competition for a national song to be conducted by the Institute Committee. As we all know Mrs Caroline Carleton won the competition. The Song of Australia was sung in all SA primary schools and was one of the options voted upon for the new national anthem in the 1970s. The music for the song was written by German born Carl Linger and the lyrics and music were first presented in the Gawler Oddfellows Hall in December 1859. The town also offered a prize for a written history of SA in 1861. Henry Hussey won that award. Also in 1859 the township opened the first museum in SA. At one time Mr Schomburgk, who later became Director of the Botanic Gardens, was the curator of this museum. Gawler also formed the Humbug Society in 1859 to consider social and political issues of the day and in 1863 the town established its own newspaper, which is still published, called the Bunyip. In later years it was unique in building so many steam railway engines that were used in SA or exported for use in other states.

 

Six Mansions of the Gawler District.

1. Kingsford House. Stephen King was one of the first settlers of Gawler having come out to SA with other locals on the ship the Orleana. He was a participant in the Gawler Special Survey with 532 rural acres and 13 town acres of land. He “donated” his town acres to the town. He soon had over 3,000 sheep on his rural land and he established the first flourmill in Gawler. Business was good and in 1856 he designed a Gothic and Georgian sandstone residence befitting of relatively wealthy pastoralist with town business interests. His first dwelling still exists on the property too. The interior has slate floors and red cedar skirtings, staircase, architraves etc. A large cellar is beneath the house. John McDouall Stuart stayed here before he set off on his grand explorations to the north of Australia in 1861. Later in the 1860s King sold the property to John Howard Angas of Collingrove. The Angas family held the property until 1924. Tom Fotheringham a descendant of another of those who funded the Gawler Special Survey acquired the property in the mid-20th century and held it for many years. After a succession of owners it was purchased by Channel Nine for the setting of the TV series McCloud’s Daughters. It was sold in 2009 and has become a luxury boutique hotel resort.

 

2. Yattalunga House. Where did the name for the district and stunning Georgian sandstone house come from? It is from two local Aboriginal Peramangk words, “yattala” meaning waterfall or cascade and “unga” meaning place? Clearly the site was very important to the Peramangk people as the caves on the South Para River below the house contain Aboriginal cave art dating back thousands of years. These cave paintings of birds and other symbols were discovered in 1902. Yattalunga house is a fine two storey Georgian sandstone house built in 1851 according to the National Trust. In its day it was the largest house outside of Adelaide and locally known as “Butler’s Folly.” The first owner Phillip Butler arrived in SA in 1838. He certainly had his first child born at Yattalunga in 1850 and other children were born there in the 1850s. In 1854 Phillip’s brother Richard Butler also arrived in SA with his family and started farming at Yattalunga. It appears the families of both Richard senior and Phillip were raised at Yattalunga. Phillip returned to England in the late 1850s but after his wife died in England in 1862 he returned to Yattalunga and remarried in Gawler in 1863. Phillip returned permanently to England in 1873 and it appears that part of the Yattalunga property passed to Richard Butler senior and his heirs with the mansion eventually going to the Barritt family. This probably occurred around 1900. Richard’s most famous son, Richard Butler, later Sir Richard Butler (1850-1925) was born in England in 1850. He farmed at Mallala and at his uncle’s property of Yattalunga in the 1870s. In 1890 he won a seat in the SA parliament for the electorate of Yatala which covered the district of Yattalunga. He became a government minister, including Treasurer, and later Premier in 1905 but for many years he was the Leader of the Opposition. His political career ended in 1919. In 1899 he moved his place of abode from Yattalunga to Adelaide. Sir Richard’s second son Richard Layton Butler, later Sir Richard, also became Premier of SA. He was born at Yattalunga in 1885 and worked for his father’s stock and station supply firm Butler, Shannon & Co for some years at Hamley Bridge. He entered parliament in 1915. He was Premier of SA from 1927-30 and again from 1933-38. Some land at Yattalunga was still owned by members of the Butler family in 1947, namely Colonel Charles Butler, but since 1901 the Butlers did their farming at Mallala and Francis Barritt and family took over the grand house of Yattalunga.

 

3. Para Para House. Walter Duffield the flour miller moved to Gawler in 1847 and bought his first flourmill the Victoria Mill. In 1863 he purchased the Union flour mill and others in country towns like Port Pirie, Snowtown and Wallaroo. High prices for flour in the 1850s (flour was sent to the Victorian goldfields) made him a wealthy man. He commissioned local and Adelaide architect Daniel Garlick to design a grand mansion beside the Gawler River. Garlick was a master of Greek classical architecture. The property was purchased in 1851 and the mansion completed in 1862. The magnificent interior is dominated by a large circular vestibule with an encircling upstairs gallery and motifs and designs painted on the inside walls and doors. Beneath this circular balcony is the ballroom. Para Para contains about 22 rooms. Governor Dominic Daly attended the first Duffield party in the house. Many more social functions and garden parties for local charities and events were held at Para Para. Although Walter Duffield died in 1882 the house remained in his family until 1924. It was then tenanted by the new owner until 1940 when it was proposed for demolition because of its parlous state of repair. But fortunately for SA Leslie Cork purchased it and set about restoring this grand house and the rare (for SA) interior wall decorations which are similar to those in Ayers House. Son Frank Cork inherited the property in 1965 and continued the painstaking restoration work. The property was sold in 1992 and has had several owners since. Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh stayed in Para Para in 1867 on his visit to SA. Some claim it is haunted from the days when it was vacant and being vandalised.

 

4. Holland House. See notes under Rosedale.

5. Trevu House. The first owner of this gracious house was James Martin, the uncle of John Martin who eventually took over his Phoenix Foundry. Trevu was built around 1860 although some sources erroneously state that it was built in 1866. James Martin had arrived in Gawler in 1848 and set up a blacksmithing business. By 1860 his Phoenix Foundry was operating but he did not begin smelting iron until 1871. As early as 1851 he was employing 30 men in his foundry. So by 1860 he was already a leading light of Gawler and a wealthy businessman who could afford to build a grand house. He was the Mayor from 1861 to 1864 and again in the 1870s and 1880s. His business expanded in 1858 after the railway reached Gawler from Adelaide thus expanding his potential market. He first entered state parliament in 1865. When he died in 1899 Trevu House was sold to the Taylor family who lived there until the 1950s after which time it had numerous owners. In 1976 it became a nursing home and is still used for that purpose but with different owners these days. In 1982 six housing blocks were sold off from the original property and gardens and the house was extensively renovated and restored by 2003.

 

6. Martindale House. Up behind the foundry is Martindale House the final home of John Martin the nephew who inherited the Phoenix Foundry in 1899. The rear part of Martindale House was built in 1872 for a local chemist in a Mediterranean style with an arcaded rear porch, flat roof and with two storeys. The front half was built for John Martin in 1895. It is a typical grand house of Calton Hill as all the wealthy of Gawler liked to build on the hill for its views over the plains. John Martin built an Italianate style house with good symmetry, two storeys, a grand external staircase to the entrance, wrought iron veranda posts and magnificent wrought iron urns from the Phoenix Foundry. Emily Martin was born in the house in 1884. In 1905 she married Henry Dutton of Anlaby in the garden of Martindale House. In 1966 Martindale became a nursing home.

 

Some Major Buildings of Gawler.

1. John McKinley Memorial. John McKinley (1819-1872) arrived in SA in 1851 and took up pastoral runs with James Pile of Gawler. In 1861 he was chosen to lead the SA Edmund Burke Relief Expedition. The giant 6 ‘4 “ tall McKinley set out with his men, animals and high hopes. He found Burke’s Dig Tree on Cooper’s Creek then he led his expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria. With Aboriginal help he eventually returned to Bowen in north QLD. On arrival back in Adelaide he was given a £1,000 reward and in Gawler he was feted as a hero, which he was, for he never lost any of his men. He married Pile’s daughter in St. George’s Anglican Church in 1863 and died in Gawler in 1872. The McKinley Monument was opened in 1874. His portrait hangs in the Institute Reading Room.

 

2. Albion Mill Grind Stone. The Albion flour mill was erected here in 1868 by James Dawson. It was a three storey domed structure. The milling company went into liquidation in 1893. On the same site the Albion Chaff factory operated from 1894 by Howell and Knox thus replacing the flour mill. When the chaff mill closed the Gawler produce and livestock markets operated from this site until the Coles shopping centre was built in the 1990s. At that time one of the original eight stone grinding stones from the flour milling days was unearthed.

 

3. Free Presbyterian Church and Light Square. Colonlel Light planned for the Church of Scotland to stand in the middle of Light Square. But the local Presbyterians were members of the Free Presbyterian Church not the traditional Church of Scotland. The owners of the Gawler Special Survey refused to donate land for a Free Presbyterian Church in Light Square so it was left vacant. This blue stone Free Prebsyterian Church was built in 1855. It is unusual with its square tower above the main entrance. Look along the sides to see the original stone work where it is not cement rendered.

 

4. Old Bushman Inn. The first hotel built here by Robert Robertson in 1840 was a wattle and daub structure. In the 1850s it was replaced. You can see parts of this building at the rear of the Bushman’s Hotel. The two storey building you can see was built in the 1870s. The 1850s part of the hotel is said to have accommodated John McDouall Stuart during one of his expeditions northward. The building is Italianate in style and is dominated by the balcony with its cast iron balustrade, frieze and paired cast iron columns. This lacework probably came from the nearby Eagle Foundry.

 

5. Congregational Church, now a private residence. The first Congregational Church here constructed of blue stone and red brick quoins was built in 1851. Note the pretty rounded windows and doorway. It is said the congregation disappeared as it opened when news of the Victoria gold finds reached the town. Even the minister fled to Victoria! A second larger church was opened just ten years later (1861) in traditional Gothic style with arched windows, buttresses and a steep pitched slate roof. It has an unusual narrow clock tower and spire but with no clocks ever installed. The end wall has a pretty triple pained Gothic stained glass window. The building beside the 1851 church was opened in 1912 as a kindergarten/Sunday school room. Note the fine property wall with the half round bricks so common in the Church Hill heritage area and the fine wrought iron gates. Walter Duffield the wealthy flour miller worshipped here.

 

6. Anglican Manse, 21 Cowan Street. The Anglican parsonage was built around 1850 with funds (£674) raised by the congregation plus a government grant of £150. It remained the parsonage for over 100 years. Note the hitching post.

 

7. Old Court House, 23 Cowan Street. 19th Century Court Houses were designed to look impressive and engender respect for the law. This one was built in 1881. The first magistrate was a local lawyer John Rudall. The Rann government committed a gross act of vandalism when it ignored the heritage zoning of this area and demolished the old police station and erected the only new structure in this area in 2005. It is sympathetic in style but unnecessary as the new station could have been sited elsewhere. Police were stationed here from 1846 onwards.

 

8. Zion Lutheran Church Offices. Some old buildings from the 1870s and 1880s were acquired by the Lutheran church and converted into the Zion Kindergarten and Lutheran Study Centre.

 

9. St. George’s Anglican Church Hall. The well-endowed Anglicans of Gawler erected a church hall in 1866. The façade that you can see today dates from the 1920s. Look down the side and see where the stone work and brick work change. An Anglican school operated on the northern side of the church until the public one opened in 1877.

 

10. St. George’s Anglican Church and Orleana Square. The Anglicans formed their congregation in 1845 and opened their first church on this site in 1848. Governor Gawler attended the opening service and donated a silver chalice for the communion services. The government had contributed £150 towards the cost of this building and glebe lands for the rectory, parish hall and Anglican School. The church that we see was opened in 1858, with the nave opening in 1864 and the transept in 1885 and the tower in 1909. It is built of local bluestone, sandstone quoins and a slate roof. Among the many notable worshippers were the Reid family, the Fotheringham family- both Special Survey land holders, the Warrens of Mt Crawford, and the Butlers of Yattalunga, One Tree Hill. The church makes a grand statement about the importance of Anglicanism. The Anglican cemetery is on the edge of the town in the east where 4 acres of land was purchased for £55 in 1861.

 

11. St. Peters and St. Pauls Catholic Church. The first Catholic Church was built on this site in 1850. The church was built with a government grant of £50 for the church and £150 for the presbytery. In 1877 a group of Benedictine Fathers were stationed in the Gawler parish. In 1881 they were replaced by Carmelite Fathers who worked towards a new grand Catholic church for Gawler. The new structure was opened in 1898 in red brick and local bluestone. The Romanesque style church was erected with two dominant towers on each corner of the façade. The towers are six sided. The brick work on the towers and the church is excellent and reminiscent of German influence according to some. The façade windows are rounded in Romanesque style, the front arches are thick and broad and not Gothic in style.

 

12. Former Catholic Presbytery, 1 Parnell Square. The Catholic Presbytery was built in 1857 and then enlarged in 1865. Priests have served the church here from 1857 onwards. Father Fallon of Koonunga had looked after the first Gawler Church from Koonunga between 1852-57. It is built of bluestone with brick quoins and timber veranda posts.

 

13. Catholic School now Parish Hall and Convent. The first Catholic School started in Gawler in 1867 at the back of the Presbytery. It was run by the Sisters of St. Joseph. In 1882 a new school building was opened on the corner of Cowan and Porter Streets. The Sisters of the Good Samaritan took over the school in 1902 when it had around 120 pupils. Note the “tear drop” window in the gable end of the stucco building. The school was relocated in 1971 and the old school is now the Parish Hall. Across the street is the two storey 1910 convent which the Sisters of the Good Samaritan had built. It was sold off as a private residence around 1971.

 

14. Gawler Primary School. This impressive bluestone school was built two years after the Free, Compulsory and Secular Education Act of 1875. The old school has a belfry and it cost nearly £5,000 and was designed for 600 pupils. In the 1950s the government closed off parts of Parnell Square to make larger playing grounds for the primary school destroying the concept of the square. Thus the Catholic Church is no longer sitting in the middle of Parnell Square as originally planned. Gawler Primary was one of the first Model Schools in SA.

 

 

15. Tortola House. This architectural gem of Gawler is built in the Venetian Gothic style with polychrome brick work (multi-coloured bricks). The detailing is superb- look at the brick patterns beneath the upper windows. Some say the yellow bricks were imported from Italy but that is unlikely. It is unique in SA. The wrought iron fence came from Mays Foundry near the Gawler Rail Station. William Wincey, a local timber merchant built the house around 1872. He had eight children living in this house and he was for a time Mayor of Gawler. When he died in 1894 the house was sold on to Alfred May who kept it for a few years. The Methodist Church bought the house as a manse in 1912 for £1,000.

 

16. Tod Street Methodist Church. William Wincey was a devout Methodist and also a generous benefactor of the Wesleyan Methodists in Gawler as he helped them erect the beautiful Tod Street Methodist Church in 1869. Note the symmetry of the faced and the four narrow Gothic windows above the main entrance and the rose window above them. It is a lofty structure and originally had a slate roof.

 

17. The original Tod Street Methodist Church 1850 and 1858. The Wesleyan Methodists opened their first church in Gawler in 1850 but the first services were conducted, in people’s homes from 1846. The first full time minister for Gawler was appointed to this early church in 1853. This first chapel is now painted white. Look carefully at the stone wall facing Tod Street. The tear drop gable window above the triple narrow Gothic window is all part of the transept which was added to the original chapel in 1858. It shows how fine stone work with brick quoins was financially possible by 1858. The two storey Sunday school class rooms were added onto this 1858 church in 1875.

 

 

18. Statue of James Martin on the river bank. This is a picturesque spot with the South Para River, Goose Island to the right and the avenue of majestic Moreton Bay Fig trees planted in the 1870s. James Martin (1821-99) opened his first foundry in Gawler in 1848 providing blacksmithing services and wagons. He expanded greatly with foundries in Gladstone and Quorn for his agricultural implements, strippers (he had worked with John Ridley before he settled in Gawler) etc. He became Mayor of Gawler and a politician in the lower and upper houses in Adelaide. His home was called Trevu in Deland Avenue (it is now a nursing home.) He married three times and when he died he left his property to his son but the Phoenix Foundry business to his nephew, John Martin. James Martin started smelting iron from the Barossa Valley at his Phoenix Foundry in 1871, the first iron production in SA. Martin had only acquired the acres of land off Calton Road in 1871. By 1873 he employed 95 men and his strippers and implements were going all over the state. His foundry was completed by 1880 when his nephew James joined him in a partnership. The May brothers started work at the foundry in 1874 and with their engineering skills the foundry began production of mining equipment. The May brothers left James Martin in 1885 to establish their own foundry but in 1888 James Martin got a government contract to build 52 steam locomotives. The first steam train rolled off the production line in 1890. The 1890s were the heyday of the Phoenix foundry. It occupied over 18 acres, employed around 700 men, and made annual turnovers of £150,000. After James Martin died in 1899 the SA government started making their own railway engines at their Islington works and the May Brothers Foundry had also expanded and taken business from the Phoenix Foundry. In 1907 the business went into liquidation and was taken over by John Martin’s son-in-law, Henry Dutton of Anlaby who had married John’s daughter. Dutton got government contracts again for railway engines and rail carriages for stock. When Dutton died in 1914 the business was purchased by Perry Engineering. Perry lost the government railway contracts and the foundry closed in 1928. Today the Phoenix Foundry is a Target shopping centre. That is great as it had languished for sixty years.

 

Done