Wallace 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, ...

. It was established in 1858, the first election held in 1859, and existed until 1996. For a time, it was represented by two members. In total, there were 18

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 ...

from the Wallace electorate.

Population centres

The initial 24 New Zealand electorates were defined by Governor

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

in March 1853, based on the

New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 72) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that granted self-government to the Colony of New Zealand. It was the second such Act, the previous 1846 Act not having been fully i ...

that had been passed by the British government. The Constitution Act also allowed 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 ...

to establish new electorates, and this was first done in 1858, when four new electorates were formed by splitting existing electorates. Wallace was one of those four electorates, and it was established by splitting the electorate. Settlements in the initial area were

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manitouli ...

Mataura Mataura is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. Mataura has a meat processing plant, and until 2000 it was the site of a large pulp and paper mill. Geography Mataura is situated on and the Main South Line rail ...

, and Riverton. This electorate was in the rural part of

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

History

The first election was held on 30 November 1859 during the term of the

2nd New Zealand Parliament The 2nd New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament, Parliament of New Zealand. It opened on 15 April 1856, following New Zealand's 1855 New Zealand general election, 1855 election. It was dissolved on 5 November 1860 in prep ...

, and was won by

Dillon Bell Sir Francis Dillon Bell (8 October 1822 – 15 July 1898) was a New Zealand politician of the late 19th century. He served as New Zealand's third Minister of Finance (New Zealand), Minister of Finance (the first parliamentary finance minister), ...

. The electorate was named after Scottish military hero

William Wallace Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army a ...

. For the term of the 3rd New Zealand Parliament (1861–66), it was a two-member electorate. From 1866 to its dissolution in 1996, it was a single-member electorate. In 1938 additional areas added from Central Otago and the West Coast made Wallace the biggest (non-Māori) electorate in New Zealand. In the 1996 election, the first MMP election, the electorate was combined with the adjacent Clutha electorate into the Clutha-Southland electorate.

Members of Parliament

Key ;Single-member electorate ;Multi-member electorate ;Single-member electorate

Election results

1993 election

1990 election

1987 election

1984 election

1981 election

1978 election

1975 election

1972 election

1969 election

1966 election

1963 election

1960 election

1957 election

1954 election

1951 election

1949 election

1946 election

1943 election

1938 election

1935 election

1931 election

1928 election

1925 election

1922 election

1919 election

1914 election

1899 election

1896 election

1890 election

1875 by-election

Notes

References

* * * {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand Politics of Southland, New Zealand 1858 establishments in New Zealand 1996 disestablishments in New Zealand