Electoral district of Flinders

This article is about the electorate in South Australia. For the former Queensland electorate, see Electoral district of Flinders (Queensland). For the Federal electorate in Victoria, see Division of Flinders.

Flinders South Australia—House of Assembly
Map of South Australia with electoral district of Flinders highlighted Electoral district of Flinders (green) in South Australia
State	South Australia
Created	1857
MP	Peter Treloar
Party	Liberal Party of Australia (SA)
Namesake	Matthew Flinders
Electors	23,421 (2014)
Area	61,139 km2 (23,605.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

Flinders is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It is named after explorer Matthew Flinders, who was responsible for charting most of the state's coastline. It is a 61,139 km² coastal rural electorate encompassing the Eyre Peninsula and the coast along the Nullarbor Plain, based in and around the towns of Port Lincoln and Ceduna. The seat was expanded in 2002 to include a western strip of land all the way to the Western Australia 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 from 1862 to 1875, from 1884 to 1902 and again from 1915 to 1938, a three-member electorate from 1875 to 1884 and again 1902 to 1915. Flinders was also the name of an electoral district of the unicameral South Australian Legislative Council from 1851 until its abolition in 1857.

A single-member seat since 1938, Edward Craigie of the Single Tax League held the seat. Though typically considered a safe rural conservative seat, Labor came close with a 46.5 percent two-party vote at the 1962 election. The seat fell to the rival conservative SA Nationals on one occasion, with Peter Blacker representing Flinders from 1973 to 1993, but he was defeated when Kangaroo Island was briefly included in Flinders, and without the advantages of incumbency, was unable to regain his seat when it was removed four years later. It has since remained a safe Liberal seat, currently the safest on a 29.2 percent margin.

Members for Flinders

Member		Party	Term
	Marshall MacDermott		1857–1859
	W. J. Browne		1860–1862

Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Alfred Watts		1862–1866		Charles Lindsay		1862–1865
					John Williams		1865–1868
	Augustine Stow		1866–1868
	Alfred Watts		1868–1875		W. R. Mortlock		1868–1870
					Hampton Gleeson		1870–1871
					W. R. Mortlock		1871–1875

Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	P. B. Coglin		1875–1881		John Williams		1875–1878		Ebenezer Cooke		1875–1882
					W. R. Mortlock		1878–1884
	Andrew Tennant		1881–1884
									P. B. Coglin		1882–1884

Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Andrew Tennant		1884–1887		John Moule		1884–1896
	William Horn		1887–1893
	Alexander Poynton	Labor	1893–1901
					W. T. Mortlock		1896–1899
					David McKenzie		1899–1902
	W. T. Mortlock		1901–1902

Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Richard Foster	National League	1902–1904		David McKenzie		1902–1905		Thomas Burgoyne	National League	1902–1904
		Farmers and Producers	1904–1906							Farmers and Producers	1904–1906
					A. H. Inkster		1905–1906
	John Travers	Liberal and Democratic	1906–1910			Liberal and Democratic	1906–1907			Liberal and Democratic	1906–1910
					E. H. Warren	Farmers and Producers	1907–1910
	James O'Loghlin	Labor	1910–1912		James Moseley	Liberal Union	1910–1915			Liberal Union	1910–1915
	John Travers	Liberal Union	1912–1915

Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	John Travers	Liberal Union	1915–1918		James Moseley	Liberal Union	1915–1923
	John Chapman	Country	1918–1924
						Liberal Federation	1923–1933
	John O'Connor	Labor	1924–1927
	Edward Coles	Country Party	1927–1928
		Liberal Federation	1928–1930
	Edward Craigie	Single Tax	1930–1938
						Liberal and Country	1932–1933
					Arthur Christian	Liberal and Country	1933–1938

Member		Party	Term
	Edward Craigie	Single Tax	1938–1941
	Rex Pearson	Liberal and Country	1941–1951
	Glen Pearson	Liberal and Country	1951–1970
	John Carnie	Liberal and Country	1970–1973
	Peter Blacker	Nationals SA	1973–1993
	Liz Penfold	Liberal	1993–2010
	Peter Treloar	Liberal	2010–present

Election results

See also: Electoral results for the district of Flinders

South Australian state election, 2014: Flinders

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Peter Treloar	14,994	72.0	+14.0
	Labor	Mathew Deane	3,214	15.4	−0.1
	Family First	Grant Wilson	1,313	6.3	+1.5
	Greens	Felicity Wright	1,299	6.2	−0.7
Total formal votes			20,820	97.6	+0.4
Informal votes			505	2.4	−0.4
Turnout			21,325	91.1	−0.1
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Peter Treloar	16,480	79.2	+3.0
	Labor	Mathew Deane	4,340	20.8	−3.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.0

References

• ABC profile for Flinders: 2014
• ECSA profile for Flinders: 2014
• Poll Bludger profile for Flinders: 2014

External links

• The 13 electorates from 1902 to 1915: The Adelaide Chronicle