Flinders is a single-member electoral district for the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...

. It is named after explorer Matthew Flinders, who was responsible for charting most of the state's coastline. It is a 58,901 km² coastal rural electorate encompassing the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named af ...

and the coast along the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

, based in and around the city of

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located a ...

and contains the District Councils of

Ceduna Ceduna may refer to: *Ceduna, South Australia, a town and locality *Ceduna Airport Ceduna Airport is a public airport in Ceduna, South Australia. The airport, which is owned by the District Council of Ceduna is located adjacent to the Eyre ...

, Cleve, Elliston, Lower Eyre Peninsula, Streaky Bay and

Wudinna Wudinna is a town in South Australia. The area was first settled by Europeans in 1861 when Robert George Standley lodged a claim for of land surrounding Weedna Hill ('weedna' later became changed to Wudinna which may be an Aboriginal word meanin ...

; as well as the localities of Fowlers Bay,

Nullarbor The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

and

Yalata Yalata is an Aboriginal community located west of Ceduna and south of Ooldea on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. It lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people, but the settlement began as Yalata Mission in the ...

in the

Pastoral Unincorporated Area A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music ( pastorale) that depic ...

. The seat was expanded in 2002 to include a western strip of land all the way to the

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 ...

border. Flinders is the only one of the original 17 electorates to be contested at every election. Created as a single-member electorate in 1857, it was a dual-member electorate 1862–1875, 1884–1902 and 1915–1938, and a three-member electorate 1875–1884 and 1902–1915. A

single-member A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vo ...

electorate since 1938, it was held by

Edward Craigie Edward John Craigie (5 September 1871 – 17 January 1966) was a Single Tax League member for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Flinders from 1930 to 1941. Born and raised in Moonta, South Australia, the son of Scottish parents, ...

of the

Single Tax League The Single Tax League was a Georgist Australian political party that flourished throughout the 1920s and 1930s based on support for single tax. Based upon the ideas of Henry George, who argued that all taxes should be abolished, save for a sing ...

from 1938 to 1941. It has been in the hands of a conservative party–the Liberals (and their predecessors, the

Liberal and Country League 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 ...

) or the Nationals–ever since. For most of that time, it has been safely conservative even by the standards of rural South Australia, although

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 ...

came close to winning it with a 46.5 percent

two-party A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...

vote at the 1962 election. Members have typically held the seat for 10 to 20 years. The LCL/Liberal hold on the seat was broken in 1973 when Peter Blacker claimed the seat for the Nationals, then known as the Country Party. He held it until 1993, when

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

was briefly redistributed to Flinders, allowing Liberal

Liz Penfold Elizabeth Meryl Penfold (born 15 September 1947) is an Australians, Australian retired politician who represented the seat of Electoral district of Flinders, Flinders in the South Australian House of Assembly for the Liberal Party of Australia ...

to take the seat on a large swing of over 14 percent. Penfold actually won enough votes on the first count to win the seat outright. Blacker sought a rematch in 1997, after Kangaroo Island was removed. However, without the advantages of incumbency, Blacker not only lost, but suffered a further swing of three percent. The seat has reverted to form, and has been a comfortably safe Liberal seat ever since. Flinders was also the name of an electoral district of the unicameral

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, ...

from 1851 until its abolition in 1857.

Members for Flinders

Election results

Notes

References

ECSA profile for Flinders: 2018

ABC profile for Flinders: 2018

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flinders Electoral districts of South Australia Eyre Peninsula 1857 establishments in Australia