Dunedin West was a New Zealand parliamentary

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, ...

, in the city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. It existed for three periods between 1881 and 1996 and was represented by seven

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Population centres

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Dunedin West, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries. The 1981 census had shown that the North Island had experienced further population growth, and three additional general seats were created through the 1983 electoral redistribution, bringing the total number of electorates to 95. The South Island had, for the first time, experienced a population loss, but its number of general electorates was fixed at 25 since the 1967 electoral redistribution. More of the South Island population was moving to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, and two electorates were abolished, while two electorates were recreated (including Dunedin West). In the North Island, six electorates were newly created, three electorates were recreated, and six electorates were abolished. The electorate was urban, and comprised a number of suburbs in the west of Dunedin.

History

The electorate existed in the 19th century from 1881 to 1890. It was represented by: * Thomas Dick 1881–84 (defeated) *

William Downie Stewart William Downie Stewart may refer to: *William Downie Stewart Sr (1842–1898), member of House of Representatives for City of Dunedin and Dunedin West *William Downie Stewart Jr William Downie Stewart (29 July 1878 – 29 September 1949) was a ...

1884–90 (retired) The electorate was recreated, from 1908 to 1946. Stewart's son, also called

, represented the electorate for the Reform Party from 1914 to 1935, when he was defeated by

Labour 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 ...

Gervan McMillan David Gervan McMillan (26 February 1904 – 20 February 1951) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party, and a medical practitioner. Biography McMillan was born in 1904 in New Plymouth, the eldest child of Annie Gertrude Pearce and ...

. In 1984 the electorate was recreated again, until the introduction of MMP in 1996. Clive Matthewson represented the electorate from 1984 to 1996. He left the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

in 1995, and was one of the founders of the

United New Zealand United New Zealand was a centrist political party in New Zealand founded in 1995. It merged with the Christian-based Future New Zealand party to form the United Future New Zealand party in 2000. History Formation United was founded on 28 June 1 ...

party.

Members of Parliament

Dunedin West was represented by seven Members of Parliament. Key

Election results

1993 election

1990 election

1987 election

1984 election

1943 election

1938 election

1935 election

1931 election

1928 election

Notes

References

* * * {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand Politics of Dunedin 1881 establishments in New Zealand 1908 establishments in New Zealand 1984 establishments in New Zealand 1890 disestablishments in New Zealand 1946 disestablishments in New Zealand 1996 disestablishments in New Zealand