South Barwon is an
electoral district of the
Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
.
[
] Located in a mixed urban and rural area south of the
Barwon River, it covers an area of 621 km², including the
Geelong suburbs of
Belmont and
Grovedale
Grovedale is a southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. At the , Grovedale had a population of 14,869.
History
Toponymy
The locality was originally named ''Germantown'' because several families of German Lutheran origin had settled th ...
,
Waurn Ponds and part of
Highton
Highton is a residential suburb of Geelong, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. With views across Geelong, Corio Bay and the surrounding region, Highton is located along the banks of the Barwon River (Victoria), Barwon River and across t ...
, the coastal centre of
Torquay
Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...
and the rural towns of
Barrabool,
Bellbrae,
Connewarre
Connewarre, is a locality in Victoria, Australia, is located in the City of Greater Geelong and Surf Coast Shire, and is named after Lake Connewarre which is situated immediately to its north-east. Connewarre is a version of "kunuwarra", the ...
,
Gnarwarre,
Modewarre,
Moriac and
Mount Moriac. The electorate had a population of 52,241 at the 2001 census.
South Barwon was created in 1976 as a predominantly rural seat which was considered safe for the conservative
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
. It was won by Liberal
Aurel Smith, formerly the member for
Bellarine, upon its inception, and retained for the party by
Harley Dickinson upon Smith's retirement in 1982. Dickinson held the seat until 1992, when he quit the party and attempted to retain the seat as an independent, but lost to endorsed Liberal candidate and former television newsreader
Alister Paterson. The seat underwent significant demographic change during Paterson's tenure as successive redistributions pushed it further into Geelong. Major population growth in the traditionally Labor-voting areas of Torquay, Barwon Heads and southern Geelong, caused the seat to become progressively less safe for the Liberal Party. These changes came to a head at the
2002 election, when the
Labor Party nominated former Geelong mayor
Michael Crutchfield as its candidate, and amidst a statewide landslide victory, he succeeded in taking South Barwon for the first time. Crutchfield was re-elected in 2006, but lost in 2010 to local councillor and Liberal candidate
Andrew Katos. Katos was re-elected in
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
but was defeated by former federal MP
Darren Cheeseman in
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
. Katos re-contested South Barwon in 2022 in an attempt to win back his former seat, however Cheeseman easily retained the seat with 59.8% of the two-party-preferred vote, on the back of a 6.8% swing towards Labor. This was the strongest result for Labor in the seat’s history.
Members for South Barwon
Election results
References
District profile from the Victorian Electoral Commission
1976 establishments in Australia
Electoral districts of Victoria (Australia)
City of Greater Geelong
Surf Coast Shire
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