MOUNT GAMBIER

city, southeastern South Australia. It is situated about 280 miles (450 km) southeast of Adelaide, with which it is connected by road, rail, and air. It lies at the foot of Mount Gambier (623 feet ), an extinct volcano with four crater lakes that was sighted in 1800 by Lieutenant James Grant of the Royal Navy, who named it after Admiral James (later Lord) Gambier. Stephen Henty surveyed the area in 1839, climbed the mountain, and established a livestock station in 1841. A private settlement called Gambier Town was founded in 1854 there by Hastings Cunningham and was proclaimed a municipality in 1876. Proclaimed a city in 1954, Mount Gambier is the centre of a mixed-farming area (cereals, potatoes, onions, livestock) and processes dairy foods, meats, and flour; woolens, cellulose, particleboard, veneer, and concrete pipes are manufactured. Local plantations of pine trees supply a timber industry; and coralline limestone, dolomite, and diatomite are mined in the vicinity. Pop. (1986) 20,813.