George Gawler

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George Gawler

Lieutenant Colonel George Gawler, KH (21 July 1795 – 7 May 1869) was the second governor of South Australia. He replaced John Hindmarsh who was recalled to England in 1838. He was governor from 17 October 1838 until 15 May 1841.

Gawler was the son of Captain Samuel Gawler who was killed in battle in India in 1804. George Gawler was educated at the military college, Great Marlow, and proved to be a diligent and clever student. In October 1810 he obtained a commission as an ensign in the 52nd regiment and in January 1812 went with his regiment to the Peninsular War. He was a member of a storming party at Badajoz, and was wounded and saved from death by a private soldier who lost his own life. He was in Spain until 1814. The regiment returned to England and Gawler, now a lieutenant, fought at the Battle of Waterloo. He remained in France with the army of occupation until 1818, and in 1820 married Maria Cox. Both were sincerely religious and when the 52nd was sent to New Brunswick in 1823 they did much social and religious work. Gawler returned to England in 1826 and from 1830 to 1832 was engaged in recruiting. He reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1834 and in 1837 received the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, third class.

In 1838 Gawler was appointed governor of South Australia in succession to Captain Hindmarsh. When Gawler arrived in October 1838, the colony had almost no public finances, underpaid officials and 4000 immigrants living in makeshift accommodation. He was allowed a maximum of £12,000 expenditure a year, with an additional £5,000 credit for emergencies. His first goal was to address delays over rural settlement and primary production. He persuaded Charles Sturt to come from New South Wales to work as surveyor-general, personally overseeing the surveys in the meantime, as Colonel William Light had resigned due to ailing health and the demands being placed on him without adequate staff. Gawler appointed more colonial officials, set up a police force, took part in exploration, and improved the facilities at Port Adelaide during his tenure as governor. The first permanent Government House was built during his time, what is now the East Wing of the present building.

Due to droughts in other colonies in 1840, before South Australia was self-sufficient for food, the cost of living increased rapidly. Gawler increased public expenditure to stave off collapse, which resulted in bankruptcy and changes to the way the colony was run. Over £200,000 had been spent and the land fund in London had been exhausted. A £155,000 loan was approved by the British Parliament (later made a gift) and Captain George Grey was sent to replace Gawler. In his time in office Governor Gawler had managed to make South Australia self-sufficient in terms of agriculture and had restored public confidence.

Gawler's work was long misjudged, largely because his successor Grey, in his dispatches, made the worst of his predecessor's acts, without suggesting the difficulties under which he had worked. Gawler was a gallant and energetic officer who, when he found the settlers faced with disaster, saw at once what it was necessary to do, and saved the colony. Though Mills in his Colonization on of Australia accepts the view that Gawler had been guilty of carelessness and extravagance and cannot be wholly acquitted of blame, the extraordinary difficulties with which he was faced are acknowledged. Charles Sturt and other men on the spot generally agreed that his administration had greatly benefited the settlement, and the select committee on South Australia reported that the critics of his expenditure were "unable to point out any specific item by which it could have been considerably reduced without great public inconvenience". Gawler in being recalled suffered the common fate of early governors, and, however much he may have been blamed in his lifetime, later investigations have given him an honoured place among the founders of South Australia.

The town of Gawler was named after him, as it was surveyed soon after he arrived. The Gawler Ranges at the north end of Eyre Peninsula are also named after him.

[edit] Reference

Serle, Percival. (1949). "Gawler, George". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.