Division of Fremantle

The Division of Fremantle is an Australian Electoral Division in Western Australia. It was one of the original 75 divisions for the first federal election in 1901. It is named for the city of Fremantle, which in turn is named for Captain Charles Fremantle. Fremantle was captain of HMS Challenger, which brought the first settlers to Western Australia. The Division includes the southern suburbs of Perth, Cockburn, Coolbellup, Palmyra, Fremantle and Rottnest Island.

The division originally included Perth's southwestern suburbs. Boundary changes since 1949 have made it a very safe seat for the Australian Labor Party.

Members
MemberPartyTerm  Elias Solomon Free Trade 1901–1903  William Carpenter Labor 1903–1906 William Hedges Western Australian 1906–1909  Commonwealth Liberal 1909–1913 Reginald Burchell Labor 1913–1916  National Labor 1916–1917  Nationalist 1917–1922  William Watson Independent 1922–1928  John Curtin Labor 1928–1931  William Watson United Australia 1931–1934  John Curtin Labor 1934–1945  Kim Beazley (senior) Labor 1945–1977  John Dawkins Labor 1977–1994  Carmen Lawrence Labor 1994–2007  Melissa Parke Labor 2007–2016  Josh Wilson Labor 2016–present

Many senior Labor members have held Fremantle. The most famous was John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia from 1941 to 1945.Others were Kim Beazley (senior), a minister in the Whitlam Government; John Dawkins, a minister in the Hawke Government and Keating Governments; and Carmen Lawrence, the former Premier of Western Australia and a minister in the Keating Government. Melissa Parke is a former United Nations lawyer.

Election results

References

Other websites
Division of Fremantle – Australian Electoral Commission
Melissa Parke's website

Category:Electoral divisions of Western Australia
Category:1901 establishments in Australia