Electoral district of Barwon

Barwon New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Location in New South Wales
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1894–1904 1927–present
MP	Kevin Humphries
Party	National Party of Australia
Namesake	Barwon River
Area	356,291.70 km^2 (137,565.0 sq mi)

Barwon is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Kevin Humphries of The Nationals.

Covering roughly 44% of the land mass of New South Wales, Barwon is by far the state's largest electoral district. It includes the local government areas of Bourke Shire, Brewarrina Shire, Narrabri Shire, Walgett Shire, Warrumbungle Shire, Coonamble Shire, Gilgandra Shire, Warren Shire, Bogan Shire, Lachlan Shire, Cobar Shire, Central Darling Shire, the City of Broken Hill as well as the large Unincorporated Far West Region surrounding Broken Hill. ^[1]

History

Barwon was originally created in 1894, when it along with Moree, replaced Gwydir. In 1904, with the downsizing of the Legislative Assembly after Federation, Gwydir was recreated and Moree and Barwon were abolished. In 1927, with the breakup of the three-member Electoral district of Namoi, it was recreated.

Polling booth, Double Gates Hotel.

Originally a marginal seat that traded hands between the Australian Labor Party and the conservative parties, it has been in the hands of the National Party of Australia without interruption since 1950, and for most of that time has been reasonably safe for that party.

Members for Barwon

First incarnation (1894–1904)
Member		Party	Term
	William Willis	Protectionist	1894–1901
		Progressive	1901–1904
Second incarnation (1927–present)
Member		Party	Term
	Walter Wearne	Nationalist	1927–1930
	Bill Ratcliffe	Labor	1930–1932
	Ben Wade	Country	1932–1940
	Roy Heferen	Labor	1940–1950
	Geoff Crawford	Country	1950–1976
	Wal Murray	Country, National	1976–1995
	Ian Slack-Smith	National	1995–2007
	Kevin Humphries	National	2007–present

Election results

New South Wales state election, 2015: Barwon^[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	Kevin Humphries	23,426	49.1	−22.9
	Labor	Craig Ashby	11,454	24.0	+2.5
	Independent	Rohan Boehm	8,051	16.9	+16.9
	Greens	Cameron Jones	2,942	6.2	+0.3
	Christian Democrats	Ian Hutchinson	1,192	2.5	+2.5
	No Land Tax	Nella Lopreiato	646	1.4	+1.4
Total formal votes			47,711	96.6	−0.6
Informal votes			1,670	3.4	+0.6
Turnout			49,381	87.6	+1.1
Two-party-preferred result
	National	Kevin Humphries	25,524	62.9	−13.1
	Labor	Craig Ashby	15,065	37.1	+13.1
	National hold		Swing	−13.1

References

1. "Barwon". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
2. State Electoral District of Barwon: First Preference Votes, NSWEC.
3. State Electoral District of Barwon: Distribution of Preferences, NSWEC.