Government house in South Australia, a first for Australian colonies, started 1838 for George Gawler, 2nd governor

South Australia's government house on the corner of North Terrace and King William Road, Adelaide city, with its first eastern section (bottom middle) built under second governor George Gawler between 1838 and 1840 to an adapted design by George Strickland Kingston.

South Australia’s government house, the oldest of its kind in Australia, became a significant landmark on North Terrace, Adelaide city.

The history of the residences for South Australian governors and their families went back to the "government hut" built in 1837, shortly after start the British province for the first governor, John Hindmarsh, by the crew of HMS Buffalo that brought him from England. The government hut was a plain three-roomed wattle and daub cottage, a thatched roof, calico ceiling, and external stone chimneys, described as “an extraordinary uncouth and repulsive structure” and believed to have been between the present later Adelaide railway station and the River Torrens.

Hindmarsh wrote in May 1837: "I have but one end of my mud hut finished and all my family lay on the floor of one room while two smaller ones serve for Mrs. H., myself and a female servant". When lieutenant colonel George Gawler replaced Hindmarsh in 1838, he abandoned plans for a permanent house of timber and gave directions to build one in masonry to cost £4,000 if possible but not more than £5,000.

The original two-storey eastern portion of government house was completed in 1840 in Georgian/Regency style with two wings, one facing south and the other east. It included the east hall, morning room, boudoir, drawing room and cloak room. George Strickland Kingston, who came to South Australia as assistant to surveyor general William Light and had some architectural and building experience, adapted the original design from one made in London for a wooden structure by architect Edward O’Brien.

After Kingston received tenders for the work at around £7,000, the plans had to be changed to reduced cost and a contract was let to builders East and Breeze. It was completed by 1840, and a newspaper called it "one of the best buildings of the kind in the southern hemisphere – quite a palace”. With many colonists still living in tents or small cottages, its cost attracted some criticism.

While Gawler's new government houe was being build, the original "government hut", that became the pribate secretary's office, was repaired and eventually papers and records were moved from the new building to the old. Shortly after midnight on January 12, 1841, a fire started that destroyed the hut with all its documents. 

After Gawler was recalled to England in 1841, partly because of his "extravagant" building programmes, his successors George Grey and Frederick Hold Robe spent as little as possible on the house. In 1855, under Richard Graves MacDonnell, government house’s central (southern facing) portion was added, including the ballroom, state dining room, the Adelaide Room, governor’s study, south hall and the portico. A guardhouse, gates and flagpole also were added. Stone for the 1855 additions came from the government quarry nearby on the site of the later Torrens Parade Ground.

In 1878, the billiard room, private secretary’s office, porter’s hall and strong room were built. Stained glass windows at the northern end of the ballroom were installed during the visit of the duke of York in 1901. When King William Road was widened in the 1920s, several government house buildings, included a garage, a chauffeur’s residence, stables and part of the guardhouse, were demolished. Cottages were built in the northern part of the grounds, originally for the butler (1928) and the chauffeur (1945).

In 1927, the Government House Domain Dedication Act was passed to protect Government House as an important heritage. It was listed on the South Australian heritage register in 1980.

The eastern Kintore Avenue boundary of government house grounds, stepped back by 10 metres during 2015-16, made way for the the Anzac Centenary Memorial Walk, linking the National War Memorial on North Terrace and the Torrens Parade Ground. Government house and its well-kept grounds continued to be the governors’ residence and used for important public ceremonies.