Mount Gambier, South Australia

Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, about 450 kilometers southeast of Adelaide and 17 kilometers from the Victorian border, built on the slopes of a dormant volcano of the same name. The Bungandidj people lived in the area before British colonization, the explorer James Grant sighted the peak in 1800 and named it for Admiral James Gambier, and the settlement of Gambierton was formally founded in 1854. It reached city status in 1954 after passing a 10,000 population threshold, and recorded 26,878 residents at the 2021 census. The city is known for the volcanic Blue Lake, a crater lake that changes color with the seasons, along with limestone caves and sinkholes that draw tourism worth about 100 million dollars a year to the local economy.