Gawler Gas Works

**Fast Facts**
Place type:	Building
Town or Locality:	Gawler South

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GAWLER GAS WORKS By Don Beaty.

Before we can tell the story of the Gawler Gas Works we need to relate it to the formation of the South Australian Gas Company, (SAGASCO) which had its beginning in 1861 when a prospectus was published in the "Register", listing eighteen promoters headed by Henry Ayres. The Company was formed and a Gasworks completed at Bowden by June 1863, another at Port Adelaide in 1866 and Glenelg in 1875. The Adelaide City Council was very slow in taking up the option of street lighting - it was not until 1867, after a poll of ratepayers, that 273 gas lamps were installed throughout the city.

Competition for SAGASCO came in 1868 by the "Provincial Gas Company" which planned to build three Gasworks for the townships of Gawler, Strathalbyn and Kapunda. A prospectus was published on the 30th. of May and among the promoters were Waiter Duffield and James Martin, both influential members of the Gawler community. The new company's engineer, Edward Hanson, was touted as having had "long and great experience in both large and small gasworks, having erected twenty-six" in England and South America. After parliamentary Incorporation was granted on the 30th of January 1869, equipment was ordered from England, construction commenced at the three sites. The Gawler works, at lot 107 Seventh St. Gawler South, was the first to be commissioned. The fires were lit on the 1Oth of September 1869 and the gas turned on to the few customers on Tuesday the 14th. - it received little notice in the Gawler Bunyip, much less than accompanied the commissioning of the Kapunda works on the 5th. of November, and Strathalbyn on the 13th. of December.

Despite the euphoria at the commencement of its operations, the Provincial Gas Company, was not the financial success that had been anticipated. The forecast consumption was 500 cubic feet per head of population, but in 1870 the consumption was only 188 cubic feet, so the directors decided to challenge SAGASCO in the chief streets of Adelaide. They proposed to build a Gasworks at Thebarton and to lay mains in Rundle street from King William St. to the East End Market and in King William St. to Victoria Square.The proposal was taken very seriously by SAGASCO, and talks were commenced for amalgamation of the two companies.

The talks dragged on for many months, resulting in an acceptable agreement, but, the board decided to await the return of Sir Henry Ayers from abroad before implementing the plan. Sir Henry vehemently opposed the plan, so it failed, leaving the Provincial Gas Co. no option but to proceed with the construction of its Gas works at Thebarton which was completed in December 1872. Bitter rivalry followed with cost cutting to consumers who could be connected to the Provincial Gas main. This angered other consumers including Provincial's own country customers, Gawler consumers were paying 18 shillings per thousand cubic feet as against eight shillings and six pence in Adelaide. Amalgamation proceedings were recommenced in 1877 resulting in an agreement to take effect on the 1st. of January 1878, bringing all of Provincial's gasworks into SAGASCO.

Gawler Council was also reluctant to provide street lighting - it took the donation of a lamp pillar and gas lamp by H.E.Bright jun. on the 4th. of July 1879 to get things started. That lamp was installed at the top end ofMurray St. and was followed by James Martin's donation for the Calton Rd. intersection and another by G.M.Hawkes for the Southern end of Murray St. A familiar sight from then on was the "Lamplighter" who rode a bicycle around the streets carrying a ladder on his shoulder, lighting the lamps at dusk and extinguishing them at 11-30pm.

Street lamps were not lit when there was a full moon, and in Adelaide it was two nights before and one night after, but Gawler Council decided that when the gas price was increased in 1888 that the lamps would not be lit up to six nights before and three nights after the full moon and that they be extinguished at 10-30pm every night.

Apart from a second gas holder at the Gawler works, the three country works received little attention beyond that which was needed to keep them in "good condition", and were always a drain on the company's profitability. In 1892 upwards of 33% of the production from the Gawler works was un-accounted for and for a time in 1901 the Kapunda works lost 35% of its make. Their continued operation became particularly difficult during the First World War, beset as it was with problems of supply of equipment and coal. In 1917 the Directors decided to close all three plants, Strathalbyn closed on the 30th. of September and Gawler on the 30th. of November, while in response to a request from the Kapunda Corporation the Company granted a reprieve until the 31st. of March 1918.

I was unable to find any photos of the Gawler Gasworks when in operation. This photo is of the Provincial Gas Company gasworks at Thebarton, which was designed by Edward Hanson, the same Engineer as those at Gawler, Kapunda and Strathalbyn, so the buildings were identical except for size. The curved roof building on the right with its adjacent chimney is the retort house, where the production of gas begins. The retorts are heated to red heat with coke fires; the coal is introduced into the retorts and roasted, giving off gas known as coal gas or town gas. In the foreground is the gasholder or gasometer, the building on the left I think would have contained the huge gas meters to record the consumption. In between would have been the coal store, washers and scrubbers necessary to extract the impurities, such as, tar, carbonic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, ammonia etc. When coal has been roasted it becomes coke and was then used to heat the retorts or the surplus sold off to factories or homes for heating.

Sources of information:-

"The Unquenchable Flame" The South Australian Gas Company By Peter Donovan and Noreen Kirkman. John Clift, Photo and historical facts.

Please click here to view photos and documents relating to the Gawler Gas Works.

Click here to see Memories of Gawler 1923+ by Colin Hillier - page 22. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1t46sIGz7_J3T34GOYtfOLIj27BDiXAxy

Gawler History Team thanks McGees Property for allowing us to use, and preserve their photos for future generations.

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