Barkly is an

electoral division An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. It was first created in 1974, and is named after the Barkly Tableland area, which occupies much of the electorate. Barkly is a rural electorate, covering 442,868 km² and taking in the towns of

Tennant Creek Tennant Creek ( wrm, Jurnkkurakurr) is town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the seventh largest town in the Northern Territory, and is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with the western termin ...

, Borroloola, Ali Curung, Warrego, Tara Aboriginal Community and Alpururulam. There were 5,690 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2020. Barkly was created along with the creation of the Assembly in 1974 as a conservative-leaning marginal seat centred on the town of

. It was won at that election by

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...

candidate

Ian Tuxworth Ian Lindsay Tuxworth (18 June 1942 – 21 January 2020) was an Australian politician, who was Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia from 17 October 1984 until his resignation on 10 May 1986. Early life Tuxworth was born on 18 J ...

, who later became a high-profile Cabinet minister and served as

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

from 1984 to 1986. Tuxworth was comfortably re-elected as a CLP member in 1977, 1980 and 1983, but faced an extremely close race in 1987 after he quit the CLP in order to head the rival conservative NT Nationals party. He won a narrow victory over Labor Party candidate

Maggie Hickey Margaret Anne Hickey (born 16 October 1946) is a former Australian politician. She represented the electoral division of Barkly for the Labor Party in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2001. She was Leader of the Opposit ...

, but saw the win overturned by the Court of Disputed Returns upon a legal challenge from Hickey before again winning the resulting by-election. A redistribution ahead of the 1990 election made Barkly a notionally Labor seat, and Tuxworth mounted an ultimately unsuccessful bid for Goyder instead. Hickey was comfortably elected in Tuxworth's absence, and went on to serve as

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 1996 to 1999, before retiring due to ill health in 2001. Labor candidate

Elliot McAdam Elliot Arthur McAdam (born 1951) is a former Australian politician. He was the Labor Party (ALP) member for Barkly in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2008. Born in Elliott, Northern Territory The Northern ...

was comfortably elected at the 2001 election before going on to serve as a minister in the

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

and

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada * H ...

Labor governments. He retired at the 2008 election, in which Labor's

Gerry McCarthy Gerald Francis McCarthy (born 30 June 1958) is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Northern ...

was elected as his successor.

Members for Barkly

Election results

References

External links

Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission
{{coord, 19, 38, 50, S, 134, 11, 25, E, display=title Barkly