Electoral district of Goyder

Goyder is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a 10,406.4km² rural electorate based around the Yorke Peninsula and taking in the towns of Ardrossan, Bute, Corny Point, Edithburgh, Maitland, Minlaton, Moonta, Owen, Port Wakefield, Wallaroo and Yorketown. It is currently held by Steven Griffiths of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is not to be confused with the Northern Territory electorate of Goyder, currently held by the Australian Labor Party's Ted Warren. As with its Northern Territory counterpart, the electorate is named after George Goyder, a former state Surveyor-General famous for developing Goyder's Line, which indicated the area of the state that had enough rainfall to be suitable for agriculture.

Goyder has been safely conservative ever since its creation at the electoral redistribution of 1969, but has had a surprisingly turbulent history for an otherwise safe seat. It won by James Ferguson at the 1970 election for the conservative Liberal and Country League, but was won by Steele Hall, who had not long before resigned as Opposition Leader, for the breakaway Liberal Movement at the 1973 election. Hall resigned in 1974 to run for the Australian Senate at the 1974 federal election, and his seat was successfully held for the Liberal Movement by David Boundy. In 1976, the Liberal Movement merged back into the Liberal Party of Australia (the Liberal and Country League having changed its name to that of the federal party after the initial split), and Boundy was given Liberal endorsement to recontest the seat at the 1977 state election, defeating challenger Keith Russack for preselection. However, Russack subsequently contested and won the election as an independent Liberal, and was later accepted back into the party. He was succeeded by John Meier at the 1982 state election, who subsequently represented Goyder for 24 years. Meier retired at the 2006 state election and successor candidate Steven Griffiths held the seat comfortably with a 9.1% margin.

Members for Goyder

External links

* [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/sa/2006/guide/goyd.htm ABC profile for Goyder]
* [http://www.pollbludger.com/sa2006/goyder.htm Poll Bludger profile for Goyder]
* [http://www.seo.sa.gov.au/apps/news/?year=2006&districtSearch=3209 State Electoral Office profile for Goyder]