Electoral district of Hammond

Hammond is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It is named after Ruby Hammond, the first indigenous woman to stand for the South Australian parliament. It is a rural electorate to the south-east of Adelaide, covering 6,245 km² in the east and south-east of the state and takes in the towns of Currency Creek, Goolwa, Murray Bridge and Tailem Bend.

Hammond was created in the 1994 redistribution as a replacement for Ridley, and was first contested at the 1997 election. As it covers a largely conservative rural area, it was easily won by maverick Liberal member Peter Lewis, the former member for Ridley. Lewis briefly tried to have the seat renamed in 1998 on the basis that Hammond had few ties to the electorate, proposing the alternative name of Murray-Mallee (which had covered most of Hammond's territory from 1985 to 1993), if a ceremonial name was required, Unaipon, in honour of indigenous writer, preacher and inventor David Unaipon. Lewis was expelled from the Liberal Party in 2000, and successfully recontested the seat as an independent at the 2002 election, depriving the party of what would usually be a safe seat. Lewis backed Labor to form government and was named as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly in return for his support. He attempted unsuccessfully to shift to the Legislative Council when it became clear that he had little-to-no chance of retaining his seat at the 2006 election. Hammond subsequently reverted to form at the election, with Liberal candidate Adrian Pederick taking back the seat for the party.