Electoral district of Goyder
Encyclopedia
Goyder is an electoral district
of the House of Assembly
in the Australia
n state of South Australia
. It is a 10,406.4 km² rural electorate based around the Yorke Peninsula
and taking in the towns of Ardrossan
, Bute
, Corny Point, Edithburgh
, Maitland
, Minlaton
, Moonta
, Owen
, Port Wakefield
, Wallaroo
and Yorketown
. It is currently held by Steven Griffiths
of the Liberal Party of Australia
, and is not to be confused with the Northern Territory
electorate of Goyder
, currently held by the Country Liberal Party
's Kezia Purick
. As with its Northern Territory counterpart, the electorate is named after George Goyder
, a former state Surveyor-General famous for developing Goyder's Line
, which indicated the area of the state that had enough rainfall to be suitable for agriculture.
Goyder has been in non-Labor
hands since its creation at the electoral redistribution of 1969, but has had a surprisingly turbulent history. It won by James Ferguson at the 1970 election
for the conservative Liberal and Country League
, but was won by Steele Hall
, who had not long before resigned as Opposition Leader, for the breakaway Liberal Movement at the 1973 election
. Hall resigned in 1974 to run for the Australian Senate
at the 1974 federal election
, and his seat was successfully held for the Liberal Movement by David Boundy at the 1974 Goyder by-election
. In 1976, the Liberal Movement merged back into the Liberal Party of Australia
(the Liberal and Country League having changed its name to that of the federal party after the initial split), and Boundy was given Liberal endorsement to recontest the seat at the 1977 state election
, defeating challenger Keith Russack for preselection. However, Russack subsequently contested and won the election as an independent Liberal, and was later accepted back into the party. He was succeeded by John Meier at the 1982 state election
, who subsequently represented Goyder for 24 years. Meier retired at the 2006 state election and successor candidate Steven Griffiths
held the seat comfortably with a 9.1% margin.
South Australian House of Assembly electoral districts
Since 1970, the South Australian House of Assembly has consisted of 47 single-member electoral districts consisting of approximately the same number of enrolled voters...
of the House of Assembly
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 Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...
in the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n state of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. It is a 10,406.4 km² rural electorate based around the Yorke Peninsula
Yorke Peninsula
The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located north-west and west of Adelaide in South Australia, Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. It has geographic coordinates of...
and taking in the towns of Ardrossan
Ardrossan, South Australia
Ardrossan is a small town on the east coast of the Yorke Peninsula, about 150 km from Adelaide, South Australia.The town was largely initiated by wheat farmers and wheat transporters in the late 19th century who needed infrastructure to ship their produce across the Gulf St. Vincent to Port...
, Bute
Bute, South Australia
Bute is a town located in the northern Yorke Peninsula, approximately 40 kilometres east of Wallaroo and 24 kilometres west of Snowtown. It was proclaimed as a town in 1884 and named after the Isle of Bute, in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland...
, Corny Point, Edithburgh
Edithburgh, South Australia
Edithburgh is a small town on the south-east corner of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. Edithburgh is about west of Adelaide across Gulf St Vincent, but away by road...
, Maitland
Maitland, South Australia
Maitland is a town in South Australia located 168 km west of Adelaide by road, 164 km south of Port Pirie and 46 km north of Minlaton known as the "heart of Yorke Peninsula" due to being near the center of the region...
, Minlaton
Minlaton, South Australia
Minlaton is a town in central Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. At the 2006 census, Minlaton had a population of 773. It is known as the "Barley capital of the world"....
, Moonta
Moonta, South Australia
Moonta is a town located on the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia, 165 kilometres north-northwest of the state capital of Adelaide. It is one of three towns known as the Copper Coast or "Little Cornwall" for their shared copper mining history....
, Owen
Owen, South Australia
Owen is a rural community in the heart of the Adelaide Plains. Owen is above sea-level and receives a reliable 416 mm of rain annually and was first settled in about 1865. It is about 80 km north of Adelaide in South Australia and is approximately 30 minutes by road to the nearest main...
, Port Wakefield
Port Wakefield, South Australia
Port Wakefield was the first government town to be established north of the capital, Adelaide, in South Australia.Port Wakefield is situated approximately 98.7 kilometres from Adelaide and lies on the Port Wakefield Road section of the A1 National Highway...
, Wallaroo
Wallaroo, South Australia
Wallaroo is a port town on the western side of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, 160 kilometres north-northwest of Adelaide. It is one of the three Copper Triangle towns famed for their historic shared copper mining industry, and known together as "Little Cornwall", the other two being Kadina ...
and Yorketown
Yorketown, South Australia
←Yorketown is a town in southern Yorke Peninsula, South Australia.Yorketown is in the District Council of Yorke Peninsula, the South Australian House of Assembly electoral district of Goyder and the Australian House of Representatives Division of Grey.-External links:*** Yorke Peninsula Visitor...
. It is currently held by Steven Griffiths
Steven Griffiths
Steven Paul Griffiths is a former parliamentary deputy leader of the South Australian division of the Liberal Party of Australia and the deputy Leader of the Opposition in South Australia since 2009, and member for the electoral district of Goyder in the House of Assembly since 2006.Griffiths was...
of the Liberal Party of Australia
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
, and is not to be confused with the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
electorate of Goyder
Electoral division of Goyder
Goyder is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1990, and is named after George Goyder, the South Australian surveyor responsible for carrying out the first freehold surveys in the area...
, currently held by the Country Liberal Party
Country Liberal Party
The Northern Territory Country Liberal Party is a Northern Territory political party affiliated with both the National and Liberal parties...
's Kezia Purick
Kezia Purick
Kezia Dorcas Tibisay Purick is an Australian politician. She is a Country Liberal Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, having held her seat of Goyder since the 2008 election. She is Shadow Minister for Major Projects, Trade and Economic Development, Planning and Lands,...
. As with its Northern Territory counterpart, the electorate is named after George Goyder
George Goyder
George Woodroffe Goyder was a surveyor in South Australia during the latter half of the nineteenth century....
, a former state Surveyor-General famous for developing Goyder's Line
Goyder's Line
Goyder's Line is a boundary line across South Australia corresponding to a rainfall boundary believed to indicate the edge of the area suitable for agriculture. North of Goyder's Line, the rainfall is not reliable enough, and the land is only suitable for grazing and not cropping. The line traces a...
, which indicated the area of the state that had enough rainfall to be suitable for agriculture.
Goyder has been in non-Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
hands since its creation at the electoral redistribution of 1969, but has had a surprisingly turbulent history. It won by James Ferguson at the 1970 election
South Australian state election, 1970
State elections were held in Australia on 30 May 1970. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Steele Hall was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Don...
for the conservative Liberal and Country League
Liberal and Country League
The Liberal and Country League was a major political party in South Australia throughout its forty year existence. Thirty-four years were spent in government, in part due to the electoral malapportionment known as the Playmander, introduced after coming to power.Created on 9 June 1932 as the...
, but was won by Steele Hall
Steele Hall
Raymond Steele Hall was the 36th Premier of South Australia 1968-70, a senator for South Australia 1974-77, and federal member for the Division of Boothby 1981-96.-Biography:...
, who had not long before resigned as Opposition Leader, for the breakaway Liberal Movement at the 1973 election
South Australian state election, 1973
State elections were held in Australia on 10 March 1973. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan defeated the Liberal and Country League led by Leader of the Opposition Bruce...
. Hall resigned in 1974 to run for the Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
at the 1974 federal election
Australian federal election, 1974
Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution...
, and his seat was successfully held for the Liberal Movement by David Boundy at the 1974 Goyder by-election
Goyder state by-election, 1974
The Goyder state by-election, 1974 was a by-election held on 8 June 1974 for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Goyder. This was triggered by the resignation of former Premier and Liberal and Country League/Liberal Movement MHA Steele Hall, who resigned to run for the Australian Senate...
. In 1976, the Liberal Movement merged back into the Liberal Party of Australia
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
(the Liberal and Country League having changed its name to that of the federal party after the initial split), and Boundy was given Liberal endorsement to recontest the seat at the 1977 state election
South Australian state election, 1977
State elections were held in South Australia on 17 September 1977. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election...
, defeating challenger Keith Russack for preselection. However, Russack subsequently contested and won the election as an independent Liberal, and was later accepted back into the party. He was succeeded by John Meier at the 1982 state election
South Australian state election, 1982
State elections were held in Australia on November 6, 1982. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Premier of South Australia David Tonkin was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition...
, who subsequently represented Goyder for 24 years. Meier retired at the 2006 state election and successor candidate Steven Griffiths
Steven Griffiths
Steven Paul Griffiths is a former parliamentary deputy leader of the South Australian division of the Liberal Party of Australia and the deputy Leader of the Opposition in South Australia since 2009, and member for the electoral district of Goyder in the House of Assembly since 2006.Griffiths was...
held the seat comfortably with a 9.1% margin.
Members for Goyder
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Ferguson | Liberal and Country League Liberal and Country League The Liberal and Country League was a major political party in South Australia throughout its forty year existence. Thirty-four years were spent in government, in part due to the electoral malapportionment known as the Playmander, introduced after coming to power.Created on 9 June 1932 as the... |
1970–1973 | |
| Steele Hall Steele Hall Raymond Steele Hall was the 36th Premier of South Australia 1968-70, a senator for South Australia 1974-77, and federal member for the Division of Boothby 1981-96.-Biography:... |
Liberal Movement | 1973–1974 | |
| David Boundy | Liberal Movement | 1974–1976 | |
| Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... |
1976–1977 | ||
| Keith Russack | Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... Liberal |
1977–1977 | |
| Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... |
1977–1982 | ||
| John Meier | Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... |
1982–2006 | |
| Steven Griffiths Steven Griffiths Steven Paul Griffiths is a former parliamentary deputy leader of the South Australian division of the Liberal Party of Australia and the deputy Leader of the Opposition in South Australia since 2009, and member for the electoral district of Goyder in the House of Assembly since 2006.Griffiths was... |
Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... |
2006–present | |