Electoral district of Torrens

Torrens South Australia—House of Assembly
Electoral district of Torrens (green) in the Greater Adelaide area
State	South Australia
Dates current	1902–1915, 1938–1985, 1993–present
MP	Dana Wortley
Party	Australian Labor Party (SA)
Namesake	Robert Richard Torrens
Electors	23,294 (2014)
Area	18.8 km^2 (7.3 sq mi)
Demographic	Metropolitan
Coordinates	34°51′50″S 138°39′35″E / 34.86389°S 138.65972°ECoordinates: 34°51′50″S 138°39′35″E / 34.86389°S 138.65972°E

Torrens is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. Located along the River Torrens, and named after Robert Richard Torrens, a 19th-century Premier of South Australia, and also the founder of the "Torrens title" land registration system. Torrens is an 18.8 km² urban electorate in Adelaide's north-east. It includes the suburbs of Greenacres, Hampstead Gardens, Hillcrest, Holden Hill, Northgate, Oakden and Windsor Gardens as well as parts of Dernancourt, Gilles Plains, Hope Valley, Klemzig and Northfield.

Torrens has had three incarnations as a South Australian electoral district. It was first created for the 1902 election as a large five-seat multi-member district stretching from the north-eastern suburbs right through to the south-western suburbs – the other two metropolitan seats of 13 seats total being central Adelaide and north-west to south-west Port Adelaide.^[1] Torrens was abolished and absorbed in to the new seats of East Torrens and Sturt at the 1915 election.^[2]

Torrens existed as a marginal to fairly safe Liberal and Country League/Liberal single-member seat under the Playmander system from the 1938 election, lasting until the 1985 election, though it was won once by Labor at the 1944 election. Torrens was one of just three metropolitan seats (with Burnside and Mitcham) won by the Liberal and Country League in 1965 and 1968.

Torrens was recreated in its current state for the 1993 election, based on much of the abolished seats of Gilles and Todd, as a nominally marginal Labor seat, but was won for the Liberal Joe Tiernan. Tiernan died while in office in 1994, and Robyn Geraghty reclaimed the seat for Labor at the Torrens by-election with an 8.6 percent swing. Former Senator Dana Wortley won the seat for Labor at the 2014 election.

Members for Torrens

First incarnation (1902–1915, 5 members)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	John Darling Jr.	National League	1902–1905		John Jenkins		1902–1905		George Soward	National League	1902–1905		Thomas Price	Labor	1902–1910		Frederick Coneybeer	Labor	1902–1915
	Crawford Vaughan	Labor	1905–1915		George Dankel	Labor	1905–1912		Thomas Smeaton	Labor	1905–1915
				Thomas Ryan				United Labor				1910–1912
				Herbert Hudd	Liberal Union	1912–1915		Herbert Angas Parsons				Liberal Union	1912–1915

Second incarnation (1938–1985)
Member		Party	Term
	Shirley Jeffries	Liberal and Country	1938–1944
	Herbert Baldock	Labor	1944–1947
	Shirley Jeffries	Liberal and Country	1947–1953
	John Travers	Liberal and Country	1953–1956
	John Coumbe	Liberal and Country	1956–1974
		Liberal	1974–1977
	Michael Wilson	Liberal	1977–1985
Third incarnation (1993–present)
Member		Party	Term
	Joe Tiernan	Liberal	1993–1994
	Robyn Geraghty	Labor	1994–2014
	Dana Wortley	Labor	2014–present

Election results

South Australian state election, 2014: Torrens^[3][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labor	Dana Wortley	8,959	43.8	−5.9
	Liberal	Michael Manetta	8,111	39.6	+5.0
	Greens	Anne Walker	1,853	9.1	+1.0
	Family First	Owen Hood	1,552	7.6	−0.1
Total formal votes			20,475	96.6	−0.1
Informal votes			727	3.4	+0.1
Turnout			21,202	91.0	−1.0
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Dana Wortley	10,958	53.5	−4.7
	Liberal	Michael Manetta	9,517	46.5	+4.7
	Labor hold		Swing	−4.7

Notes

1. The 13 electorates from 1902 to 1915: The Adelaide Chronicle
2. "Statistical Record of the Legislature 1836 to 2009" (PDF). Parliament of South Australia.
3. 2014 State Election Results – Torrens, ECSA.
4. 2014 State Election Results – Torrens, ABC.

References

• ABC profile for Torrens: 2014
• ECSA profile for Torrens: 2014
• Poll Bludger profile for Torrens: 2014

External links

• The 13 electorates from 1902 to 1915: The Adelaide Chronicle