The Electoral district of Montagu was a single-member electoral district of the Tasmanian House of Assembly

Tasmanian House of Assembly

The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House...

. It covered the West Coast

West Coast, Tasmania

The West Coast of Tasmania is the part of the state that is strongly associated with wilderness, mining and tourism, rough country and isolation...

 region of Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

 and its main centre of population was the town of Zeehan

Zeehan, Tasmania

Zeehan is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It lies southwest of Burnie. At the 2006 census, Zeehan had a population of 845. It is part of the Municipality of West Coast....

.

The seat was created out of part of the seat of Cumberland

Electoral district of Cumberland (Tasmania)

The Electoral district of Cumberland was a single-member electoral district of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. It was based in central Tasmania in towns such as Bothwell, Hamilton and Ouse, and until 1894 included much of the West Coast before the mining districts of Zeehan and Queenstown became...

 in a redistribution intended to be carried out for the state election, held on on 19 December 1993. However, the redistribution had not yet secured royal assent at the time of the election, and Zeehan solicitor Don Urquhart

Don Urquhart

Donald Campbell "Don" Urquhart was an Australian politician. He was born in London. In 1893 he was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly as the Free Trade member for Cumberland. His election was declared void in December 1893, but in 1894 he won election to the seat of Montagu...

 won the Cumberland poll against the incumbent member, Nicholas John Brown. This ended up in the Supreme Court of Tasmania

Supreme Court of Tasmania

The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the middle level, and is able to both receive appeals from lower courts, and able to be appealed from.The ordinary sittings of the...

, which voided the election result. When the district of Montagu was proclaimed, a by-election was called for 2 March 1894 which was won by Urquhart, who went on to be the only member for the seat. It was abolished at the 1900 state election and replaced with the seats of Lyell

Electoral district of Lyell

The Electoral district of Lyell was a single-member electoral district of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. It was based around the towns of Queenstown and Strahan in the West Coast region of Tasmania....

, covering the wider West Coast area, and Zeehan

Electoral district of Zeehan

The Electoral district of Zeehan was a single-member electoral district of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. It was based in the mining town of Zeehan in the West Coast region of Tasmania....

, covering only the town. Urquhart successfully transferred to the Zeehan seat.