Hawker is a town and a locality in the Flinders Ranges area of South Australia, north of Adelaide. It is in the Flinders Ranges Council, the state Electoral district of Stuart and the federal Division of Grey. At the 2016 census, the locality had a population of 341 of which 237 lived in its town centre. History The town was surveyed during March 1880 and was proclaimed on 1 July 1880. It was named after G. C. Hawker who was a member of the South Australian Parliament for the years 1858–1865 and 1875–1883. The locality's boundaries were gazetted on 25 November 1999 and include the Government Towns of Wonoka, Hawker and Chapmanton. Portions of Hawker were added to the adjoining localities of Flinders Ranges and Shaggy Ridge on 26 November 2013. Hawker was a thriving railway town from the 1880s until 1956 as it was on the Central Australia Railway, until the route was moved further west when the Marree railway line was opened. Establishment and naming The State Library of South Australia Place Names list gives this account of the naming of the town. "Hawker – George Charles Hawker was born in London, in 1819, the second son of Admiral Edward Hawker and, after his arrival in South Australia in the Lysander in September 1840, ran sheep in the Nuriootpa district and, in 1841, established the 'Bungaree Run' with two brothers. Entering parliament in 1858, he became Speaker in 1860, returned to England in 1865 and, apart from a short return visit, remained there until 1874. Upon his return to the colony he re-entered the political arena in 1875, retiring in 1883. Hawker Hill, west of Lake Frome, was named by John McDouall Stuart on 2 June 1859; Mount Hawker, South-West of Lake Eyre South, was named by John McDouall Stuart on 1 July 1861. The town of Hawker was proclaimed on 1 July 1880 and its sale occasioned very spirited bidding particularly for 'blocks near the railway station favourably placed for hotels and shops': The supreme site was the large corner (Lot 470) on which the Royal Hotel (now Hawker Hotel) was erected later, and this brought the top price of £246. Lot 473 on which William Powell erected a hotel later named the 'Wonoka' brought £147. The storekeepers H. Gadd and G. Jackson paid, respectively, £72 (Lot 415) and £100 (Lot 391) for good sites facing the