Coles was an electoral district of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

from 1970 to 2002. The district was based in the eastern suburbs of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Coles was first contested at the 1970 election and was won by

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 la ...

's Len King as a marginal seat. King increased the Labor two-party margin to a fairly safe 9.2 percentat the 1973 election. King retired before the 1975 election and was succeeded by

Deputy Premier A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

Des Corcoran James Desmond Corcoran AO (8 November 1928 – 3 January 2004) was an Australian politician, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. He was the 37th Premier of South Australia, serving between 15 February 1979 ...

, who transferred to Coles after his majority in Millicent was redistributed away. Corcoran won, though the Labor margin was pared down to a marginal 4.2 percent from a swing of five percent. A boundary redistribution ahead of the 1977 election pushed the seat into

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 ...

-friendly territory in the Adelaide Hills. On these boundaries, the Liberals now held it with a margin of 3.8 percent. Believing this made Coles impossible to hold, Corcoran moved to the newly created neighbouring seat of Hartley. Liberal candidate Jennifer Adamson won the seat for the Liberals at the 1977 election. Adamson picked up a large swing in the 1979 election as the Liberals won government, but was nearly defeated at the 1982 election. A boundary redistribution ahead of the 1985 election consolidated the Liberal hold on the seat by pushing it further into the Adelaide Hills, increasing the Liberal two-party margin from a marginal 1.3 percent to a safe 9 percent. Adamson, who was later known as Jennifer Cashmore, held the seat without serious difficulty until handing it to

Joan Hall Joan Lynette Hall ( née Bullock) (born 22 December 1946) is a former member of the South Australian House of Assembly, serving in the electoral district of Coles from 1993 to 2002 and the renamed electoral district of Morialta from 2002 to ...

, wife of former premier

Steele Hall Raymond Steele Hall (born 30 November 1928) is a former Australian politician who served as the 36th Premier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970. He also served in the federal Parliament as a senator for South Australia from 1974 to 1977 and ...

, in 1993. Coles was abolished and renamed Morialta ahead of the 2002 election.

Members for Coles

Election results

External links

1985 & 1989 election boundaries, page 18 & 19
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coles Former electoral districts of South Australia 1970 establishments in Australia 2002 disestablishments in Australia