Gawler South is a suburb of the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n town of

Gawler Gawler, established in 1839, is the oldest country town in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the st ...

, located in the northern

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

metropolitan area region, 43 km north of

. It is bordered by the South Para River and the suburbs of

, Gawler West, Evanston, Evanston Park and Bibaringa.

History

Gawler South is a subdivision of the Gawler township. It has streets named from First to Twenty Fourth, originally named with local identities and royal connections. The suburb has attracted a railway station (see below) and tram line (now disused), racecourse, and Anglican Church during its colonial history. After Federation, suburban infill allowed the nightcart lanes installed into these now suburban blocks to stay at the location. A railway line was built from

in 1879, with the Gawler railway station being established in the Gawler South area. The railway was extended through the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

to Angaston in 1911. The Gawler South Station is now still a stationyard for housing trains for the TransAdelaide line to Adelaide.

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 II 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.

Geography

Many of the older streets are named for ordinal numbers (First Street through to Twentyfifth Street). There is no obvious pattern to the layout of streets or the order in which they are named. Some streets on the eastern side align to the contours where the land is too steep to build.

Governance

Gawler South is governed at the local level by the Town of Gawler. Gawler South lies in the state electoral district of

Light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

and the federal electoral division of Spence.

References