George Gawler

Early life Gawler, born on 21 July 1795, was the only child of Captain Samuel Gawler, captain in the 73rd Regiment of Foot, and his wife Julia, née Russell. Gawler's father was killed in battle in Mysore, India in December 1804. The Gawler family historically came from Devon. George Gawler was educated by a tutor, then at a school in Cold Bath, Islington. Two years were then spent at the Royal Military College, Great Marlow. Army service In October 1810, Gawler obtained a commission as an ensign in the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot. In January 1812, he went to serve in the Peninsular War and remained in Spain until 1814, taking part in the advance on Madrid. From there he went to France and fought in the Battle of Waterloo. He stayed in France until 1818. Afterwards, he worked in recruiting and advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1834 and received the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order (KH), third class in 1937. Gawler found 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 placed on him with insufficient staff. Gawler promptly increased and reorganised the fledgling police force, promoting its commander Henry Inman. Gawler appointed more colonial officials, took part in exploration, and improved the facilities at Port Adelaide during his tenure as governor. The first permanent Government House was built, which is now the East Wing of the present building. The South Australian Company's greatest source of revenue, the sale of land, had largely dried up due to surveying delays in 1838. The rapid increase in population in 1839 and 1840 due to immigration greatly added to the unemployment problem. Droughts in other Australian colonies in 1840, before South Australia was self-sufficient in food, drove up the cost of living 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, after Grey promised to "maintain the strictest economy". In his time in office Governor Grey helped make South Australia self-sufficient in terms of agriculture and restored public confidence, though the real salvation of the colony may have been the discovery of copper at Burra in 1845. ==Later life and death==

After retirement as governor in 1841, Gawler devoted his time to religious and charitable works. In 1850 Gawler retired from the army. In the same year, he wrote Present State of Moral Principle in the Supreme Government of the British Colonial Empire, in which he petitioned the Queen seeking redress for the injustices done to him by successive secretaries of state. Accusing George Grey of dishonesty, he claimed that it had been through his efforts that South Australia was "the only cheap and brilliantly successful new colony in modern history". Gawler spent his last years at Southsea, where he died of pneumonia on 7 May 1869. He was buried at Portsmouth. ==Legacy==

Also, Gawler's gardener in Australia, Joseph Whittaker, contributed hundreds of pressed flowers and plants to Derby Museum and to Kew Gardens. A portrait of him hangs in Parliament House, Adelaide, and another in the City Council Chamber, Adelaide. ==Family==

Gawler married Maria Cox in September 1820. Their ten children included: • Julia Cox Gawler (1824–1899)? (born c. 1834)? was an accomplished artist. She married George Hall, Governor of Parkhurst Prison 1843–1861, and her father's private secretary in South Australia, on 21 September 1847. She was the author of Memoir of the Late Governor Gawler. • Catherine Gawler, married Lord Edward Poulden, R.N. • Jane Cox Gawler, never married. • Gawler's eldest surviving son, Henry (1827–1894), in 1857 married Caroline Augusta, daughter of the Rev. B. Philpot, rector of Great Cressingham then returned to South Australia in 1858. He was a solicitor in the South Australian Land Titles Office from 1858 to 1884. :*Their son Douglas Gawler, was a member of parliament in Western Australia. • John Cox Gawler (1830–1882), served with the 73rd regiment, and was appointed Keeper of the Regalia at the Tower of London, a post he held until his death. ==See also==