Murdoch was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It existed from 1977 to 1989 and again from 1996 to 2008. Murdoch was named for Sir

Walter Murdoch Sir Walter Logie Forbes Murdoch, (17 September 187430 July 1970) was a prominent Australian academic and essayist famous for his intelligence and wit. He was a founding professor of English studies, English and former Chancellor (education), C ...

, a prominent academic for whom Murdoch University, which was located in the electorate, was also named. The district was regarded as a safe seat for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, which held the seat for its entirety of two existences.

Geography

At the time it was abolished, Murdoch was bounded by the

Canning River The Canning River (Djarlgarra in Nyungar) is a major tributary of the Swan River in the South West Land Division of Western Australia. It is home to much wildlife including dolphins, pelicans, swans and many other bird species. Source a ...

to the northeast, Fifth and Karel Avenues to the east, Hope Road to the south, North Lake Road to the west, and

Leach Highway Leach Highway is a east-west arterial highway in the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, primarily linking Kewdale and Perth Airport with the city of Fremantle. It is allocated State Route 7 and is a dual carriageway for its enti ...

to the northwest, and including an additional section between Riseley Street, Blue Gum Reserve and Bull Creek. Its boundaries included Murdoch University, St John of God Hospital in Murdoch and the suburbs of

Bateman Bateman may refer to: Places *Bateman, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth, Australia **Electoral district of Bateman, an electorate of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, centred on the suburb *Batemans Bay, a town and bay in New South W ...

, Brentwood, Bull Creek, Murdoch, North Lake, Rossmoyne and Winthrop, along with Kardinya east of North Lake Road, Leeming west of Karel Avenue and small portions of Booragoon and Mount Pleasant. The 2007 redistribution, which came into effect at the 2008 election, saw the electorate replaced by the

electorate, which excluded sections of Murdoch south of South Street (including Murdoch University) but added a small section at its northwest ( Booragoon south of Marmion Street and Myaree east of North Lake Road).

History

The seat of Murdoch was established on 9 June 1976 in a redistribution under the Electoral Districts Act 1947, and was first contested at the 1977 state election. While initially thought to be reasonably safe for the Labor party, major demographic change in the mid-1970s resulting from the creation of suburbs such as Bull Creek and Leeming on what had previously been swampy agricultural land, resulted in a relatively safe Liberal seat by the time of the election, and Barry MacKinnon easily won the seat. MacKinnon went on to become Leader of the Opposition from 1986 until 1992, when he lost the leadership to

Richard Court Richard Fairfax Court (born 27 September 1947) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and as Australian Ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Liberal Party, ...

and subsequently retired from politics. The Murdoch electorate was largely replaced by the electorate of Jandakot in the redistribution prior to the

1989 election The following elections occurred in the year 1989. Africa * 1989 Beninese parliamentary election * 1989 Botswana general election * 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election * 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election * 19 ...

, but the change was reversed in the following redistribution which took effect at the 1996 election. By this time, Mike Board had replaced MacKinnon as the member for the electorate. Board retired in 2005, and Trevor Sprigg won the seat at the following election. However, following his death on 17 January 2008, a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held on 23 February 2008 at which

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany and various other facilitie ...

law lecturer

Christian Porter Charles Christian Porter (born 11 July 1970) is an Australian former politician and lawyer who served as the 37th Attorney-General of Australia from 2017 to 2021 in the Turnbull government and the subsequent Morrison government. He was a Me ...

was elected. Murdoch was abolished at the 2007 distribution, taking effect at the 2008 election, largely replaced by the new seat of

Geography

History

Members for Murdoch

Results

References

External links