diff --git a/django/contrib/gis/gdal/__init__.py b/django/contrib/gis/gdal/__init__.py
index de41df90ff..c33fbcb97a 100644
--- a/django/contrib/gis/gdal/__init__.py
+++ b/django/contrib/gis/gdal/__init__.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 try:
     from django.contrib.gis.gdal.driver import Driver
     from django.contrib.gis.gdal.datasource import DataSource
-    from django.contrib.gis.gdal.libgdal import gdal_version, gdal_full_version, gdal_release_date, GDAL_VERSION
+    from django.contrib.gis.gdal.libgdal import gdal_version, gdal_full_version, GDAL_VERSION
     from django.contrib.gis.gdal.srs import SpatialReference, CoordTransform
     from django.contrib.gis.gdal.geometries import OGRGeometry
     HAS_GDAL = True
diff --git a/django/contrib/gis/gdal/libgdal.py b/django/contrib/gis/gdal/libgdal.py
index 0d2889d704..865c04d89e 100644
--- a/django/contrib/gis/gdal/libgdal.py
+++ b/django/contrib/gis/gdal/libgdal.py
@@ -73,19 +73,6 @@ def gdal_full_version():
     "Returns the full GDAL version information."
     return _version_info('')
 
-def gdal_release_date(date=False):
-    """
-    Returns the release date in a string format, e.g, "2007/06/27".
-    If the date keyword argument is set to True, a Python datetime object
-    will be returned instead.
-    """
-    from datetime import date as date_type
-    rel = _version_info('RELEASE_DATE')
-    yy, mm, dd = map(int, (rel[0:4], rel[4:6], rel[6:8]))
-    d = date_type(yy, mm, dd)
-    if date: return d
-    else: return d.strftime('%Y/%m/%d')
-
 version_regex = re.compile(r'^(?P<major>\d+)\.(?P<minor>\d+)(\.(?P<subminor>\d+))?')
 def gdal_version_info():
     ver = gdal_version().decode()