gawler's work was long misjudged, largely because his successor grey, in his dispatches, made the worst of his predecessor's acts, without suggesting the difficulties under which he had worked. gawler was a gallant and energetic officer who, when he found the settlers faced with disaster, saw at once what it was necessary to do, and saved the colony. mills however, accepts the view that gawler had been guilty of carelessness and extravagance and cannot be wholly acquitted of blame, though the extraordinary difficulties with which he was faced are acknowledged. charles sturt and other men at the time generally agreed that his administration had greatly benefited the settlement, and the select committee on south australia reported that the critics of his expenditure were "unable to point out any specific item by which it could have been considerably reduced without great public inconvenience". much of gawler's expenditure was on works of both immediate and long-lasting benefit to the colony and the state, such as the great eastern road. many modern historians put him among the founders of south australia.