Electoral district of Torrens
Encyclopedia
Torrens is an electoral district
of the House of Assembly
in the Australia
n state of South Australia
. Located along the River Torrens
, and named after Robert Richard Torrens, a 19th century Premier of South Australia, and also the founder of the "Torrens title
" land registration system. Torrens is a 19.8 km² urban electorate in Adelaide
's north-eastern suburbs. It includes the suburbs of Dernancourt
, Greenacres
, Hampstead Gardens
, Hillcrest
, Holden Hill
, Manningham
, Northgate
, Oakden
, Windsor Gardens
as well as parts of Gilles Plains
, Hope Valley
, Klemzig
and Northfield
.
Torrens has had three incarnations as a South Australian electoral district. It was first created in 1902 and abolished in 1915, reinstated in 1938 until 1985 primarily as Liberal Party
seat. It was recreated in its current state for the 1993 State election, as a nominally marginal Australian Labor Party
seat, but was won for the Liberal Party by Joe Tiernan, following the collapse of the State Bank
. Tiernan died while in office in 1994, and Robyn Geraghty
reclaimed the seat for Labor in a by-election with a 16% swing as budget cuts by Dean Brown
proved unpopular. Geraghty has held the seat since, increasing her margin to an extremely large 19.1% at the 2006 state election.
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...
. Located along the River Torrens
River Torrens
The River Torrens is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains and was one of the reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the Adelaide Hills near Mount Pleasant, across the Adelaide Plains, past the city centre and empties...
, and named after Robert Richard Torrens, a 19th century Premier of South Australia, and also the founder of the "Torrens title
Torrens title
Torrens title is a system of land title where a register of land holdings maintained by the state guarantees an indefeasible title to those included in the register...
" land registration system. Torrens is a 19.8 km² urban electorate in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
's north-eastern suburbs. It includes the suburbs of Dernancourt
Dernancourt, South Australia
Dernancourt is a north-eastern suburb of Adelaide, located in the City of Tea Tree Gully, approximately 10 kilometres from the CBD.-Education:Education is provided by Dernancourt Primary School and Dernancourt Junior Primary School, located on Parsons Road....
, Greenacres
Greenacres, South Australia
Greenacres is a north eastern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield. Considered as one of the inner suburbs of Greater Adelaide, Hampstead Road and Mullers Road, intersect at Greenacres, making it a bustling area during rush hour...
, Hampstead Gardens
Hampstead Gardens, South Australia
Hampstead Gardens is a north eastern suburb of Adelaide, in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield....
, Hillcrest
Hillcrest, South Australia
Hillcrest is a suburb of Adelaide, located in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield local government area. It is around 10 km northeast of the city centre....
, Holden Hill
Holden Hill, South Australia
- Government :Holden Hill is in both the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and City of Tea Tree Gully local government areas, and is in both the South Australian House of Assembly electoral districts of Florey and Torrens. It is also in the Australian House of Representatives Division of Sturt.The...
, Manningham
Manningham, South Australia
Manningham is a suburb in the inner north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It is around 5 km from the city centre, in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council area....
, Northgate
Northgate, South Australia
Northgate is a new suburb north of Adelaide, South Australia. A petition was made in 1998 in a joint venture between the State Government and AVJennings to develop the area and annex it from the existing suburb of Northfield...
, Oakden
Oakden, South Australia
Oakden is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, located to the north-east of the Central Business District. It was established as a housing estate named Regent Gardens in the early 1990s and is located on former Department of Agriculture land...
, Windsor Gardens
Windsor Gardens, South Australia
Windsor Gardens is a suburb in the inner north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It is around 9 km from the city centre.A Windsor Gardens Post Office opened on 2 February 1954 but was replaced by the Greenacres office in 1963....
as well as parts of Gilles Plains
Gilles Plains, South Australia
Gilles Plains is a suburb of the greater Adelaide, South Australia area, located approximately 15 km north of the Adelaide business district.-History:...
, Hope Valley
Hope Valley, South Australia
-History:Hope Valley was more the result of random settlement than of actual town planning. Jacob Pitman first purchased an section in 1839. In the early 1840s he sold a few allotments. One such allotment was purchased by William Holden in 1841, on which he set up a butcher and general store...
, Klemzig
Klemzig, South Australia
Klemzig is a suburb of Adelaide in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield. It is the location of the first settlement of German emigrants to Australia in the 19th century and is named after a village near the city of Zuellichau in southeastern Brandenburg in the German state of Prussia, where they...
and Northfield
Northfield, South Australia
Northfield is a suburb of the greater Adelaide, South Australia area. The earliest known record of the name being used in reference to the area, is from the 1890s in conjunction with the North Field Athletics Club...
.
Torrens has had three incarnations as a South Australian electoral district. It was first created in 1902 and abolished in 1915, reinstated in 1938 until 1985 primarily as Liberal Party
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...
seat. It was recreated in its current state for the 1993 State election, as a nominally marginal Australian Labor Party
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...
seat, but was won for the Liberal Party by Joe Tiernan, following the collapse of the State Bank
State Bank of South Australia
The State Bank of South Australia was a bank owned by the Government of South Australia. Its collapse in 1991 was a major political event in South Australia...
. Tiernan died while in office in 1994, and Robyn Geraghty
Robyn Geraghty
Robyn Kathryn Geraghty has been the sitting Labor member for the electoral district of Torrens in South Australia since 1994.Geraghty has been heavily involved in community issues, as well as introducing various acts in to parliament...
reclaimed the seat for Labor in a by-election with a 16% swing as budget cuts by Dean Brown
Dean Brown
Dean Craig Brown, AO was the Liberal Premier of South Australia between 14 December 1993 and 28 November 1996, and Deputy Premier of South Australia between 22 October 2001 and 5 March 2002 to Rob Kerin.-Political career:...
proved unpopular. Geraghty has held the seat since, increasing her margin to an extremely large 19.1% at the 2006 state election.
Members for Torrens
| First incarnation (1902-1915, 5 members) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Party | Term | |
| John Darling, junior | Australian National League | 1902-1905 | |
| John Jenkins John Jenkins (Australian politician) John Greeley Jenkins was an American-Australian politician and Premier of South Australia.Jenkins was the fourth son of Evan Jenkins and Mary Davis of South Wales, was born in Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Wyoming Seminary, Pa., and after working on his father's farm, became in 1872 a... |
Independent (Liberal) | 1902-1905 | |
| George Soward | Australian National League | 1902-1905 | |
| Thomas Price Thomas Price Thomas Price was a stonecutter, teacher, lay preacher, businessman, stonemason, clerk-of-works, union secretary, union president and politician... |
United Labor Party | 1902-1909 | |
| Frederick Coneybeer | United Labor Party | 1902-1915 | |
| Crawford Vaughan Crawford Vaughan Crawford Vaughan , was Premier of South Australia between 3 April 1915 and 14 July 1917.Vaughan unsuccessfully campaigned for a seat in the Australian House of Representatives in 1901, and for the Australian Senate in 1903... |
United Labor Party | 1905-1910 | |
| George Dankel George Dankel George Dankel was one of the first members of the Australian House of Representatives that was not of Anglo-Celtic origin. Being born in Germany, and the spread of World War I, it is understandable he chose to retire in the 1917 election. He was a member for the Division of Boothby in South... |
United Labor Party | 1905-1912 | |
| Thomas Smeaton | United Labor Party | 1905-1915 | |
| Thomas Ryan | United Labor Party | 1909-1912 | |
| Herbert Hudd | Liberal Union | 1912-1915 | |
| Herbert Parsons | Liberal Union | 1912-1915 | |
| Second incarnation (1938-1985, 1 member) | |||
| Member | Party | Term | |
| Shirley Jeffries | 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... |
1938–1944 | |
| Herbert Baldock | Australian Labor Party 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... |
1944–1947 | |
| Shirley Jeffries | 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... |
1947–1953 | |
| John Travers | 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... |
1953–1956 | |
| John Coumbe | 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... |
1956–1973 | |
| 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... |
1973–1977 | ||
| Michael Wilson Michael Wilson (Australian politician) Michael Minell Wilson is a former South Australian politician and MP in the House of Assembly from 1977 to 1985, representing the Electoral district of Torrens. He oversaw the construction of the Adelaide O-Bahn Busway whilst in office as Transport Minister.-References:... |
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... |
1977–1985 | |
| Third incarnation (1993-present) | |||
| Member | Party | Term | |
| Joe Tiernan | 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... |
1993–1994 | |
| Robyn Geraghty Robyn Geraghty Robyn Kathryn Geraghty has been the sitting Labor member for the electoral district of Torrens in South Australia since 1994.Geraghty has been heavily involved in community issues, as well as introducing various acts in to parliament... |
Australian Labor Party 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... |
1994–present | |
