Gawler was laid down by the Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd Shipyard at Whyalla, South Australia on 24 January 1941. She was launched on 4 October 1941 by the wife of Sir Walter Duncan, then Governor of Victoria, and commissioned into the RAN on 14 August 1942. The ship was originally to be named HMAS Gambier, for the city of Mount Gambier, South Australia.