State Western Australia | Namesake Edward John Eyre | |
Dates current 1950–1962; 1989–2005; 2008–2017 Area 292,240 km (112,834.5 sq mi) Demographic Electoral region of Mining and Pastoral | ||
Eyre was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia. It was in existence for three separate periods (1950 to 1962, 1989 to 2005, and 2008 to 2017), on each occasion covering large portions of south-eastern Western Australia. Eyre was a safe seat for the Labor Party in its first two incarnations, but during its third incarnation was a marginal seat between the Liberal Party and the National Party.
History
Eyre was first created for the 1950 election and abolished ahead of the 1962 election. Labor MP Emil Nulsen, who had previously held the seat of Kanowna, was the district's only member over the period, and was unopposed on two occasions.
Eyre was again created for the 1989 election and abolished ahead of the 2005 state election. The district ultimately included the Shires of Coolgardie, Dundas, Laverton, Leonora, Menzies and Yilgarn, as well as the Boulder district and non-metropolitan components of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. It was held at all times by the Labor Party, and historically, only Southern Cross returned a consistent majority for the Liberal Party. The district was largely replaced by Murchison-Eyre.
An electorate named Eyre was created for a third time, on this occasion for the 2008 election. The new district was drawn from parts of Murchison-Eyre and Roe – both of which were abolished – as well as a small part of Kalgoorlie. Eyre is centred further south and west than its previous incarnations, incorporating large parts of the former Roe district – which was always a non-Labor seat – in particular, the towns of Esperance and Ravensthorpe. For this reason, the new seat of Eyre was much less favourable to Labor than its predecessors. The new member was Liberal MP Graham Jacobs, who was previously the member for Roe. He held the seat until it was abolished in a redistribution prior to the 2017 state election, which also saw Roe re-created.