gwynne came to south australia on the "lord goderich" in april 1838 and purchased 500 acres of land on the foothills east of adelaide. he was elected to the first representative parliament in 1857 and twenty years later was appointed a judge of the supreme court of south australia. upon his retirement in 1881 he laid out the suburb on sections 303 and 265, hundred of adelaide. initially, parts of gwynne's estate was subdivided into large blocks which were used by settlers for large market gardens, orchards and paddocks of wheat and hay. gradually the area developed as a residential suburb as transport services such as trams and buses were introduced in the early 1900s. post-war migrant settlement also brought many people to the area.