Plan of Gawler Town South, South Australia Shows lot numbers, street names, Gawler River, bridge and proximity to Gawler-Town, Bassett-Town and Gawler West.

Gawler was the first country town established in South Australia. In 1837 Colonel William Light and his assistant, Boyle Travers Finniss, passed through the area with Light looking on the site favourably. He recognised that it was ideally positioned on the road to the northern reaches of the colony and to the Murray River. Unfortunately Light had little time in which to execute his plans. A Special Survey was carried out, and the town was laid out by William Jacob from a plan supplied by Colonel Light. Ample room was allowed for parklands, as in Light's plan of Adelaide. The new town was named Gawler after the then Governor of South Australia.

The discovery of copper to the north at Kapunda and the development of the agricultural areas around Gawler aided the growth of the town: it was seen as a natural gateway to the northern areas.

By 1858 new suburban townships had been surveyed including Gawler South. Agricultural manufacturing industries within Gawler, and the arrival of the railway in 1857 supported this expansion. With its manufacturing base coupled with the strong agricultural prospects of the region, Gawler had almost limitless opportunity to expand. Fine buildings proliferated in the town.

In Gawler South the population had reached 1287 with 257 houses, five shops and two private schools by the time of the 1901 census. By 1921 the population had risen to 1616: Gawler South was growing faster than the town of Gawler itself. When local government boundaries were rationalised in 1933, Gawler South was united with Gawler to form Greater Gawler thus keeping the focus on the Gawler region, rather than the southern residential region becoming absorbed by councils further south.

Gawler continues to expand today but predominantly as a sleeper suburb of Adelaide.

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