Electoral district of Melbourne

This article is about the Victorian state electorate. For the seat of the New South Wales Legislative Council (known as City of Melbourne 1848–51), see Electoral district of Town of Melbourne. For former electorates of the Victorian Legislative Council, see Electoral district of City of Melbourne and Melbourne Province. For the federal electorate, see Division of Melbourne.

Melbourne Victoria—Legislative Assembly
File:VIC Melbourne District 2014.png Location of Melbourne (dark green) in Greater Melbourne
State	Victoria
Dates current	1856–1859, 1889–present
MP	Ellen Sandell
Party	Australian Greens
Electors	43,801 (2014)
Area	27 km2 (10.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Central Metropolitan

The Electoral district of Melbourne is an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It currently includes the localities of Carlton, North Carlton, Melbourne, East Melbourne, West Melbourne, North Melbourne, Parkville, Newmarket, Kensington and Flemington, and includes Melbourne University. The district has been in existence since 1856 (it was abolished in 1859 and reestablished in 1889).

Melbourne, 1855

The electorate was won in 2014 for the first time by an Australian Greens candidate Ellen Sandell.

History

Melbourne was one of the inaugural districts of the first Assembly in 1856. Its area was defined by the 1855 Act as:

Commencing at a Point in the Yarra Yarra River due South from the South-western Angle of Gisborne Street, thence to Gisborne Street, and by the Western Side of that Street to Victoria Parade, thence by the South Side of Victoria Parade to the Western Side of Nicholson Street, thence by the said Western Side of Nicholson Street Northwards to the Boundary Line of the Corporate Limits of Melbourne, thence by the last-mentioned Boundary Line bearing West to the Moonee Ponds, by the said Moonee Ponds downwards to the Site of Main’s Bridge, thence by a Line bearing South to the Yarra Yarra River, and on the South by the Yarra Yarra River to the commencing Point.

^a now Flemington Bridge

Melbourne was abolished in 1859, its area was split into the new Electoral district of East Melbourne and Electoral district of West Melbourne, each having two members.

Melbourne was re-created as a single-member electorate by the Electoral Act Amendment Act 1888 which took effect at the 1889 elections.

Since 1908 the seat had been traditional Labor territory since 1908, but had become increasingly marginal against the Australian Greens since 2002. Senior Labor minister Bronwyn Pike successfully held the seat against strong Greens challenges at three subsequent elections, defeating future Greens Senator Richard Di Natale in 2002 and 2006, and prominent lawyer Brian Walters in 2010. Pike resigned in 2012, and Labor candidate and City of Melbourne councillor Jennifer Kanis retained the seat after a closely contested by-election, which saw her finish second on primary votes to Greens candidate Cathy Oke but win on preferences. Kanis lost the seat to Greens candidate Ellen Sandell at the 2014 election. Along with the seat of Prahran it was the first win for the Greens in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

Members

First incarnation (1856–1859, 5 members)
Member 1		Party	Term	Member 2		Party	Term	Member 3		Party	Term	Member 4		Party	Term	Member 5		Party	Term
	Archibald Michie	None	1856–1859		David Moore	None	1856–1859		John Smith	None	1856–1859		William Stawell	None	1856–1857		John O'Shanassy	None	1856
													James Service	None	1857–1859		Henry Langlands	None	1857–1859

Second incarnation (1889–present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	Godfrey Carter	None	1889–1900
	Edward Findley	Labor	1900–1901
	James Boyd	Ministerialist	1901–1908
	Alexander Rogers	Labor	1908–1924
	Tom Hayes	Labor	1924–1955
		Labor (Anti-Communist)	1955–1955
	Arthur Clarey	Labor	1955–1972
	Barry Jones	Labor	1972–1977
	Keith Remington	Labor	1977–1988
	Neil Cole	Labor	1988–1999
	Bronwyn Pike	Labor	1999–2012
	Jennifer Kanis	Labor	2012–2014
	Ellen Sandell	Greens	2014–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Melbourne

Victorian state election, 2014: Melbourne

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Greens	Ellen Sandell	15,333	41.4	+8.9
	Labor	Jennifer Kanis	10,830	29.3	−5.0
	Liberal	Ed Huntingford	8,913	24.1	−4.7
	Animal Justice	Kate Elliott	802	2.2	+2.2
	Christians	Neville Chisholm	491	1.3	+1.3
	Voice for the West	Tehiya Umer	325	0.9	+0.9
	Family First	Kerry Sutherland	306	0.8	+0.8
Total formal votes			37,000	96.5	+0.2
Informal votes			1,343	3.5	−0.2
Turnout			38,343	87.5	+2.3
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Greens	Ellen Sandell	19,401	52.4	+7.1
	Labor	Jennifer Kanis	17,599	47.6	−7.1
	Greens gain from Labor		Swing	+7.1

Historical maps

• Electoral district of Melbourne 1856.png

  Location of Melbourne district in 1856

Notes

^# O'Shanassy won both Melbourne and Kilmore districts, he decided to represent the latter resulting in a by-election for Melbourne.

External links

• Victorian Electoral Commission profile of the district of Melbourne
• Map of the district of Melbourne (.pdf file) 2013
• Electoral District of Melbourne, 1855
• Article "Seat of many faces, many landmarks" from The Age