The Division of Hotham is an Australian Electoral Division in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Hotham covers an area of approximately 83 square kilometres from Oakleigh in the north to Dingley Village in the south. The division includes the suburbs of

Bentleigh East Bentleigh East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Bentleigh East recorded a population of 30,159 at the 2021 census ...

, Clarinda, Clayton, Clayton South, Coatesville, Huntingdale, Mulgrave,

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

, Oakleigh, Oakleigh East, Oakleigh South,

Waverley Park Waverley Park (also and originally called VFL Park) was an Australian rules football stadium in Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. For most of its history, its purpose was as a neutral venue and used by all Victorian-based Victorian Football ...

, Westall, and

Wheelers Hill Wheelers Hill is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 22 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Wheelers Hill recorded a population of 20,652 at the . At 152m ...

in their entirety; as well as parts of Bentleigh, Chadstone,

Glen Waverley Glen Waverley is a list of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government ...

, Heatherton, McKinnon,

Mount Waverley Mount Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Mount Waverley recorded a population of 35,340 at the 2021 census. It ...

, Ormond, Springvale,

Springvale South Springvale South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Greater Dandenong local government area. Springvale South recorded a population of 12,766 ...

and Syndal.

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

History

Charles Hotham by James Henry Lynch-crop

The division was created in 1969 and is named for

Sir Charles Hotham Sir Charles Hotham, KCB, RN (14 January 180631 December 1855)B. A. Knox,Hotham, Sir Charles (1806–1855), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 429-430. was Lieutenant-Governor and, later, Governor of Victoria, A ...

Governor of Victoria The governor of Victoria is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the Australian state of Victoria. The governor is one of seven viceregal representatives in the country, analogous to the governors of the other states, and the ...

1854–55. The division was originally created as a safe

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

seat, replacing the abolished

Division of Higinbotham The Division of Higinbotham was an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The division was created in 1949 and abolished in 1969, when it was renamed Division of ...

. Its founding member was

Don Chipp Donald Leslie Chipp, AO (21 August 192528 August 2006) was an Australian politician who was the inaugural leader of the Australian Democrats, leading the party from 1977 to 1986. He began his career as a member of the Liberal Party, winning el ...

, a prominent Liberal who served as a minister under

John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician who served as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a l ...

William McMahon Sir William McMahon (23 February 190831 March 1988) was an Australian politician who served as the 20th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1971 to 1972 as leader of the Liberal Party. He was a government minister for over 21 years, t ...

and

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...

—as well as

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party. Holt was born in S ...

and

John McEwen Sir John McEwen, (29 March 1900 – 20 November 1980) was an Australian politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Australia, holding office from 1967 to 1968 in a caretaker capacity after the disappearance of Harold Holt. He was the ...

while he held his old seat. Chipp ended up quitting the party in 1977 due to personal animosity towards Fraser to form the

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia ...

, and shortly thereafter transferred to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Demographic changes resulted in Chipp's Liberal successor

Roger Johnston James Roger Johnston (18 June 1930 – 24 June 2020) was an Australian politician. Johnston successfully sought Liberal preselection for Hotham, competing against nine other members. In 1977, he was elected to the Australian House of Representa ...

lose Hotham to

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

. Labor has held it without serious difficulty since then, and the seat is now considered a fairly safe Labor seat. The immediate past member,

Simon Crean Simon Findlay Crean (born 26 February 1949) is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the Member of Parliament for Hotham from 1990 to 2013, representing the Labor Party, and served as a Cabinet Minister in the Hawke, Keating, R ...

, was

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

from 2001 until December 2003 and was in every Labor Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet from June 1991 to March 2013. Crean retired at the 2013 election and was succeeded by fellow Labor member

Clare O'Neil Clare Ellen O'Neil (born 12 September 1980) is an Australian politician who is the Minister for Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position tha ...

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Hotham - Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotham, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1969 1969 establishments in Australia City of Greater Dandenong City of Kingston (Victoria) City of Glen Eira City of Monash Electoral districts and divisions of Greater Melbourne