Town of Gawler

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Town of Gawler
Local government area
Adelaide-LGA-Gawler-MJC.png
Logo of the Town of Gawler.svg
Country Australia
State South Australia
Region Barossa, Light and Lower North [1]
Established1857
Council seat Gawler
Government
 • MayorNathan Shanks
 •  State electorate
 •  Federal division
Area
 • Total
41.1 km2 (15.9 sq mi)
Website Town of Gawler
LGAs around Town of Gawler
Light Regional Council Light Regional Council Light Regional Council
City of Playford Town of Gawler Barossa Council
City of Playford City of Playford Barossa Council

The Town of Gawler is a local government area located north of Adelaide city centre in South Australia containing 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.

Contents

The Town of Gawler is located within the officially declared boundaries of the Adelaide metropolitan area. [2] 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. [3]

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. [3] His election as Mayor in late 2025 marked the continuation of his long-standing involvement in local government and community leadership. [4]

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. [3]

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 Mudla Wirra, Nuriootpa, Barossa and 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 and the southern outskirts by the District Council of Munno Para West. The Barossa West council was seated at Lyndoch some 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) 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.

Council

Council consists of 11 Elected Members comprising a Mayor, and 10 Area Councillors.
The current council as of November 2022 is: [5]

WardParty AffiliationCouncillorFirst ElectedNotes
Mayor  Independent Nathan Shanks2018Deputy Mayor 2022-2023, 2024-2025, Acting Mayor 2025 (June - September) Current Mayor 2025
Area Councillor  Labor Cody Davies2018Deputy Mayor 2023-2024
 IndependentHelen Hennessy2022
 IndependentDavid Hughes2010Deputy Mayor 2011-2013,2015-2016
 IndependentPaul Koch2010
 IndependentMick Launer2022
 IndependentEthan White2022Deputy Mayor 2025 - present
 LaborIsaac Solomon2022
 IndependentBrian Sambell2006Mayor 2006-2014
  Liberal Jim Vallelonga2014
IndependentKaren Redman2010Mayor 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. [6]

  1. 1 2 Commonly known as Louis Ey.

Suburbs

Waste management and recycling

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

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Barossa, Light and Lower North" (PDF). Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "Adelaide metropolitan boundary (as declared on 11 November 1993)" (PDF). Government of South Australia. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 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
  4. ↑ https://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/gawler-mayor?utm_source=chatgpt.com
  5. ↑ Gawler, Town of (10 January 2020). "Council Members". Town of Gawler Council. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  6. ↑ "Mayors of Gawler". Gawler History Team. 23 November 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2023.

34°36′S138°45′E / 34.600°S 138.750°E / -34.600; 138.750


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