| Type: | lga |
| Town of Gawler | |
| State: | sa |
| Density: | 608 |
| Area: | 41.1 |
| Est: | 1857 |
| Seat: | Gawler |
| Mayor: | Karen Redman |
| Region: | Barossa, Light and Lower North[1] |
| Logo Upright: | 1.2 |
| Url: | http://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/ |
| Stategov: | Light |
| Fedgov: | Spence |
| Near-W: | City of Playford |
| Near-Nw: | Light Regional Council |
| Near-N: | Light Regional Council |
| Near-Ne: | Light Regional Council |
| Near-E: | Barossa Council |
| Near-Se: | Barossa Council |
| Near-S: | City of Playford |
| Near-Sw: | City of Playford |
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.
The Town of Gawler is located within the officially declared boundaries of the Adelaide metropolitan area.[2] 1.0% of the population were Indigenous Australian, and 76.3% were born in Australia.
The current mayor of Gawler is Karen Redman (elected November 2014), the first elected female mayor in the town's history.[3] In November 2022, Redman was elected to her third term in office.[4]
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 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 consists of 11 Elected Members comprising a Mayor, and 10 Area Councillors.
The current council is:
| Ward | Party Affiliation | style=width:12em | Councillor! | First Elected | style=width:20em | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor | Independent | Karen Redman | |||||
| Area Councillor | Labor | Cody Davies | Deputy Mayor | ||||
| Independent | Helen Hennessy | ||||||
| Independent | David Hughes | ||||||
| Independent | Paul Koch | ||||||
| Independent | Mick Launer | ||||||
| Independent | Nathan Shanks | ||||||
| Labor | Isaac Solomon | ||||||
| Independent | Brian Sambell | ||||||
| Liberal | Jim Vallelonga | ||||||
| Independent | Ethan White | ||||||
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.[5]
Garbage, recycling, and green waste collection services are provided by the Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority.