Holiday houses in Gawler

The handsome historic town of Gawler sits at the junction of two rivers on the northeast fringe of Adelaide. When it was established in 1839, Gawler was South Australia’s first inland town. Like Adelaide, the state capital, Gawler was well planned with generous parks, tree-lined streets, and open squares. Cruise down Murray Road, Gawler’s main street, and you’ll encounter a succession of lovely 19th-century bluestone and brick buildings alongside more prosaic examples of modern architecture. Murray Road is bookended with parks — Clonlea Park to the north and Dead Man's Pass Reserve to the south. Branching off from Murray Road, leafy Cowan Street links the well-preserved Church Hill heritage district’s original public squares and churches. Scores of wineries in the Barossa Valley, South Australia’s best-known wine region, are a short drive away, while the 35 cellar doors of the Clare Valley are just over an hour north of town.

Being on the fringe of Australia's driest capital city, Gawler has something of a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild winters that are significantly wetter than the warmer months. If you’re planning on touring the nearby wine regions, the vineyards look their best in summertime, although you can enjoy long lunches outside from the middle of spring through harvest time in March. Adelaide’s arts festival season starts in mid-February with the Adelaide Fringe, an inclusive festival open to anyone with an idea and a venue to register a show. Local artists and performers take to stages in town for the Gawler Fringe, a program of live music, cabaret, and comedy that also runs in February. In the capital, the more mainstream Adelaide Festival and WOMAdelaide, a celebration of world music, take place in early March.

Soak up some history

Take a walking tour of the Church Hill State Heritage Area, with its 19th-century churches, schools, and homes, before checking out the National Trust’s Gawler Museum, housed in a former telegraph station, and the monuments in Pioneer Park, a former cemetery, on the main street through town.

The Barossa Trail

A walking and cycling trail to the Barossa Valley town of Tanunda, the Barossa Trail of mostly off-road paved paths starts just outside Gawler. It stretches on for 27 kilometres through pretty countryside to Tanunda from Gawler. Cyclists can continue on to the cute towns of Nuriootpa and Angaston.

Gawler Rivers Path

A wheelchair-accessible walking and cycling trail, the Gawler Rivers Path follows the waterways of the North and South Para rivers from Dead Man’s Pass south of the town centre all the way to Clonlea Park in the north. The entire trail takes around three hours to walk one-way and has plenty of picnic areas to stop and nosh at along the way.