Mount Gambier - Culture and History

The area was originally inhabited by the Buandig people who reputedly called the Mount Gambier area 'ereng balam' or 'egree belum' which supposedly meant the home of the eagle hawk.

The first European to sight Mount Gambier was Lieutenant James Grant sailing the HMS Lady Nelson. He sailed down the coast on 3 December 1800 and observed what he thought were four islands. On closer investigation they proved to be two mountains and two capes which he duly named Gambier's Mountain (after Admiral Lord James Gambier who had commanded the fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen), Cape Banks, Cape Northumberland and Mount Schank

The Buandig were the first Aborigines in South Australia to see sheep and to experience the arrival of Europeans with herds of sheep.

The first squatters into the area were the Henty Brothers who had established huge property holdings around Portland in western Victoria. Realising that the government of South Australia had little control over this far-flung extremity of the state they simply moved sheep and cattle into the area in June, 1839. So slow was the South Australian government to react that they managed to farm the area around the lakes for five years before they were ordered back to Victoria. How successful this operation was is open to debate as the Hentys and their workers spent much of their time fighting with the local Buandig Aborigines who were unimpressed with the arrival of Europeans on their traditional grounds. There was also a major issue over sheep. The Aborigines quickly developed a taste for mutton which infuriated the settlers.

Once the Hentys had been removed (in 1844) the land was given to Evelyn Sturt, a brother of Charles Sturt who had explored the Murray River to its mouth. A township of sorts began to emerge in the 1840s. The Mount Gambier Hotel was built by John Byng in 1847, a blacksmith and a general store set up business near what are now the Cave Gardens, and in 1849 a Dr Welh arrived with a handmill for turning wheat and barley into flour. He was later to build a substantial millhouse on Commercial Road.

The town was formally established by Hastings Cunningham in 1854. He called it Gambier Town. During that year 123 allotments were surveyed and by 1860 lots of land in the township were being offered for sale.

The city of Mount Gambier was created exactly a century later in 1954. It is now recognised as the most important centre in south-east South Australia.

Today Mount Gambier is sustained by a range of industries. There is a very active timber industry sustained by plantations of radiata pine, the surrounding area is noted for sheep and cattle raising and the soil is rich enough for both grain crops and vegetables to be grown.