Mount Gambier the 'Blue Lake City' is South Australia's second largest City, located midway between the major capital cities of Melbourne and Adelaide, set amidst a unique and ancient landscape of volcanic craters, lakes, caves and mysterious underground aquifers.

Mount Gambier was sighted and named, in honour of Lord James Gambier, Admiral of the Fleet, by Lieutenant James Grant in December 1800 whilst on a survey voyage in the Brig, HMS Lady Nelson.
Stephen Henty a grazier from Portland was the first white man to set eyes upon the wondrous Blue Lake and used the Valley Lake crater to graze his stock.  

The Henty brothers, who first settled in the area to graze cattle, never officially laid claim to the land and were forced to leave when the first lease was granted to Evelyn Sturt, brother to the famous explorer Charles Sturt.

"Gambiertown" as it was known in early years was founded by Hastings Cunningham who in 1854 subdivided a section of 77 acres for the establishment of a town.