The Division of Darling was an Australian electoral division in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. From 1901 until 1922 it was based on Bourke, Cobar, Nyngan, Coonamble and Gilgandra. From 1906, it also included Dubbo. The 1922 redistribution increased the number of voters in some rural electorates and as a result the

division of Barrier The Division of Barrier was an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the states and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the Lis ...

was abolished with most of its population, including the large mining town of

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

, Wentworth and Balranald, was absorbed by Darling along with Hay from

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

. Dubbo was transferred to Gwydir in 1922 but returned to Darling in 1934. In 1948, Dubbo, Gilgandra and Coonamble were transferred to the new division of Lawson and Hay and Balranald were transferred to Riverina. In 1955 Coonamble returned to Darling. In 1977 it was abolished with Broken Hill and Wentworth going to Riverina and Bourke, Cobar, Nyngan and Coonamble going to Gwydir. Darling was named for the Darling River. It was a safe seat for the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

, which held it for all but seven months of its history. It was one of the few country seats where Labor usually did well. Its most prominent member was William Spence, one of the founders of the Labor Party and the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoralism, pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 ...

. Spence was also the only non-Labor member ever to hold the seat, having left the party in the 1916 split. He ultimately joined the Nationalist Party, only to lose the seat in

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

Members

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Division Of 1901 establishments in Australia Constituencies established in 1901 1977 disestablishments in Australia Constituencies disestablished in 1977 Darling