Hotels & Inns in Gawler since 1839

Fast Facts

Place type:	Pub or hotel
Town or Locality:	Gawler

Including Bassett Town, Evanston, Gawler Plains, Gawler South, Gawler West and Willaston. The following information has been gathered with permission from Bob Hoad's “Hotels and Publicans in South Australia”.

Hotels & Inns in Gawler since 1839

Bushman Inn – see Old Bushman Hotel
Calton’s – see Old Spot
Commercial – see South End
Criterion – see The Criterion
Criterion Hotel - see The Criterion
Criterion Tavern - see The Criterion
Engine & Driver
Exchange
Family – See Railway Family
Gawler Arms
Gawler Belt Inn
George
Globe - see Kingsford Hotel
Globe Inn – see Kingsford Hotel
Golden Fleece – see Old Spot – 77 Murray Street
Grapes
Harp
Kingsford
Mill
New Bushman
Old Bushman
Old Bushman Hotel
Old Bushman’s Hotel
Old Bushman’s Inn
Old Spot Inn – see Old Spot
Old Spot Hotel – see Old Spot
Old Spot – 77 Murray Street; formerly Golden Fleece, Calton’s, Old Spot Inn, and Old Spot Hotel
Prince Albert
Prince Albert Inn – see Prince Albert
Railway – see Railway Family
Railway Family
Railway (and) Family – see Railway Family
Railway Terminus – see Railway Family, 18th Street, Gawler
Ram’s Head
Smith’s
South End – was Commercial
Sportsman’s – Gawler Plains
Terminus –see Railway Family
The Criterion
Victoria
Willaston
Willaston (original)
Young’s – see New Bushman

Gawler’s Hotels - from The Bunyip, 11th February 1927

“A most interesting publication has been unearthed from the shelves within the “Bunyip” Office, being a general and commercial directory published by W Barnet, Murray Street, in 1860, three years before the birth of ' The Bunyip.' ...

There was certainly an overplus of pubs, or rather inn was the accepted word in other days, although some houses rose to the dignity of an hotel.

Within the corporation the oldest was the Old Spot Inn, controlled by Edward Martin. Others were the Globe (George Causby), Prince Albert Hotel (John McEwen), Gawler Arms (Ed.Clements), Old Bushman (J. H. Howe), later Hon. J. H. Howe), and Grapes Inn (Ernest Kopke). Evidently the Commercial and Exchange houses came later in the sixties.

These should have been sufficient for the small population then existing, but the outside and sparsely populated areas had even more public attention than the town residents. The cause was the slow locomotion, bullocks being the principal traction, and the fact that Burra copper was carted through to Port Adelaide.

Over in Gawler South area were the Mill Inn (H. W. Buckerfield), Ram's Head (C. C. Crace, Evanston), Railway Hotel (Ed. Martin), Engine and Driver Hotel (J. Schmidt, Bassett Town), Smithfield Hotel (J. Bennett), Penfield (Josiah Chesterman), with Salisbury a nest of drinking houses. Other hotels in the district in 1860 were the Willaston Hotel, Gawler Belt Inn, Shea-oak Log Inn, Half Moon, Seven Stars, and the Bush Inn, and the Wheatsheaf on the road to Lyndoch Valley. Even after this date the hotels multiplied, and as quickly went down again."

It was also fascinating to trace the titles of the hotels their extant in the neighbourhood, tracing such signs as Globe Inn, Murray street; Gawler Arms; Old Bushman; Old Spot Inn; Ernst Kopek/ Grapes Inn, Murray street; H. W. Buckerfield, Mill Inn, Gawler Bridge ; C. C. Crace, ' Ram's Head, Evanston ; Thomas Henry, Wheatsheaf Inn, Lyndoch Valley road ;Railway Hotel, Gawler west; Schmidt, Engine and Driver hotel, Bassett Town; Willaston hotel; Smithfield was described purely as publican ; with another at Penfield titled innkeeper; it was also noticed that Smithfield had a ‘second house’ kept by one John Smith.

Peachey Belt had its inn, as did Salisbury have several. Lyndoch's hotel was then styled 'Lord Lyndoch' hotel; with another Barossa Inn, and there was another on the Sandy Creek Road, Gawler, known as the Bush Inn, kept by a George Ward ; with inns also at Williamstown and Templers. Doubtless there were many others, or some sprung up after that date, to again sink into oblivion. One may be recalled, the inn at Gawler Belt.”

By the late 1860’s Gawler had 14 hotels with a population of only 1,000 people! Gawler was a highly industrialised town with labour intense factories, foundries and mills. It was also a hub for the rural communities of the mid-north of South Australia. But it was the trade from the hard drinking bullockies travelling between Port Adelaide and Burra that also had a big influence on the establishment of so many hotels. As early as 1846 it was reported that some 400 bullock drays were employed on the “Great North Road” to the Burra mine.

Richard Taylor

Please click here to see a list of publicans in 1915.

Click here to read Tony Harnett's "History from the Globe Inn, 1851 to the Kingsford Hotel, 2017".

Click here to watch Tony Harnett's "History of Hotels in Gawler", as presented to the Gawler History Team 6 April 2017.

We thank Tony for his contributions.

Related Articles

• Kingsford Hotel 32 Murray Street
• Prince Albert Hotel 109 Murray Street
• Overway Hotel 27 Eighteenth Street
• Bushman Hotel 10 Cowan Street

References

Memories of Hotels & Inns in Gawler since 1839

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