Martin (Mayor) Hon James

Fast Facts

Type of person	Individual
Date of birth	1821
Place of birth	Foundry, Cornwall, England
Date of arrival	1848
Principal occupation	Manufacturer
Date of death	1899

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Mayor 1861-64, 1868, 1877-78 and 1887

An alderman on Gawler’s first council in 1857, James Martin is regarded as the father of Gawler, and his statue, made of white marble, proudly stands tall in Whitelaw Terrace. Born at Foundry in St. Stithians, Cornwall, England on April 23, 1821, to John and Jane Martin, he had little education when he began work to help his widowed mother raise seven children.

Suffering from Asthma, James migrated to South Australia in 1847 on the “Belle Alliance”, and arrived in Gawler on June 15, 1848 with a dray containing his young wife, some furniture and a few tools, and commenced business in the town. Possessing a natural ability with anything mechanical, James built his business up to such a degree that at one time he employed around 700 men on a property that covered 18 acres. Starting with farm implements, he then produced mining machinery and finally railway locomotives and rolling stock.

James Martin seemed to have a hand in almost every Gawler venture, and beside his eight years as Mayor, he was the Member for Parliament for the Barossa from 1865-68 and a Member of the Legislative Council from 1885 until his death on December 24, 1899. One of the founders of the Institute – he donated some of the land for the building – he laid the foundation stones of the Gawler Primary School (April 12, 1877), and the Town Hall (April 16, 1878).

Before settling in Gawler, James married Christiana Fox on March 28, 1848. They had a son, John, in 1850, but unfortunately Christiana passed away in 1852. James then married Ann Lock 11 months later, but she died later that year. On August 2, 1858, James married Charlotte Vickerstaft Bradley, who survived until 1894.

Gawler’s most famous “father”, James Martin served the town well, and helped establish Gawler after the hard times, when, after only six men were left in the town through the 1850s goldrush, his enterprise gave work to many people to help build a thriving community. Besides the marble statue in Whitelaw Terrace, an oil painting of Mr. Martin, which was presented to the Institute in the 1860s, remains in the Gawler Library.

References

James Martin, Mayor 1861-64, 1868, 1877-78 and 1887.

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