The Gawler River is a river located in the Adelaide Plains district of the Mid North region in the Australian state of South Australia.
The district surrounding the river produces cereal crops and sheep for both meat and wool, as well as market gardens, almond orchards and vineyards.
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Gawler, established in 1839, is the oldest country town in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about 40–44 km (25–27 mi) north of the state capital, Adelaide, and is close to the major wine producing district of the Barossa Valley. Topographically, Gawler lies at the confluence of two tributaries of the Gawler River, the North and South Para rivers, where they emerge from a range of low hills.
Historically a semi-rural area, Gawler has been swept up in Adelaide's growth in recent years, and is now counted as a suburb in the Outer Metro region of the Greater Adelaide Planning Region.
The Adelaide Plains (Kaurna name Tarndanya) is a plain in South Australia lying between the coast (Gulf St Vincent) on the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges on the east. The southernmost tip of the plain is in the southern seaside suburbs of Adelaide around Brighton at the foot of the O'Halloran Hill escarpment with the south Hummocks Range and Wakefield River roughly approximating the northern boundary.
Traditionally entirely occupied by the Kaurna (indigenous) people, the Adelaide Plains are crossed by a number of rivers and creeks, but several dry up during summer. The rivers (from south to north) include: the Onkaparinga/Ngangki, Sturt/Warri Torrens/Karra Wirra, Little Para, Gawler, Light/Yarralinka and Wakefield/Undalya. The plains are generally fertile with annual rainfall of about 460 millimetres (18 in) per year.
The County of Adelaide is one of the 49 cadastral counties of South Australia and contains the city of Adelaide. It was proclaimed on 2 June 1842 by Governor Grey. It is bounded by the Gawler River and North Para River in the north, the Mount Lofty Ranges in the east, and Gulf St Vincent in the west. The south border runs from Aldinga Bay to Willunga South and Mount Magnificent.
The county held at least 60% of South Australia's population between 1855 and 1921; this figure rose to 70.6% in 1966.