Electoral district of Darling Downs (Queensland) explained

Darling Downs
State:	qld
Lifespan:	1873–1888; 2001–2009
Namesake:	Darling Downs

Darling Downs was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It was named for the Darling Downs region.^[1]

The district covered rural areas in southern Queensland to the immediate west and north of Toowoomba, not including the city itself. Darling Downs included the towns of Dalby, Oakey and Crows Nest. The electorate was first created for the 2001 election.

In 2008, Darling Downs was abolished – with effect at the 2009 election – following a redistribution undertaken by the Electoral Commission of Queensland. Its former territory and voters were divided between the districts of Warrego, Nanango, Toowoomba North and a new seat called Condamine.

An earlier district based in the same region was also called Darling Downs. It existed as a single member electorate from 1873 to 1878 and as a dual member electorate from 1878 to 1888.

Members for Darling Downs

First incarnation (1873–1888)

Single member electorate (1873–1878)

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
			Edward Wienholt	Ministerialist	4 November 1873 – 1 February 1875	Resigned so he could travel to Europe
			William Graham	Unaligned	23 March 1875 – 26 November 1878	Won by-election. Did not contest 1878 election

Dual member electorate (1878–1888)

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes		Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		William Miles	Oppositionist	26 November 1878 – 22 August 1887	Died in office				Francis Kates	Ministerialist	26 November 1878 – 1 November 1881	Resigned
									William Allan	Conservative	29 November 1881 – 1 October 1883	Won by-election. Did not contest 1883 election^[2]
								Francis Kates	Ministerialist	1 October 1883 – 4 May 1888
			William Allan	Conservative	6 September 1887 – 4 May 1888							Won by-election

Second incarnation (2001–2009)

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
			Ray Hopper	Independent	17 February 2001 – December 2001	Joined National Party and later its successor, the Liberal National Party. Moved to Condamine after Darling Downs was abolished
				National	December 2001 – 26 July 2008
				Liberal National	26 July 2008 – 21 March 2009

Election results

See main article: Electoral results for the district of Darling Downs (Queensland).

See also

• Division of Darling Downs
• Electoral district of Darling Downs (New South Wales)
• Electoral districts of Queensland
• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly by year
• by name

References

-27.4382°N 151.719°W

Notes and References

1. 27 April 2020.
2. News: [By Electric Telegraph.]. ]. . 9 August 1883 . 13 March 2015 . 2 . National Library of Australia . 30 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220730025608/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122931540 . live .