Electoral district of Gippsland South

Gippsland South
Victoria—Legislative Assembly
Gippsland South; Victoria—Legislative Assembly
	Location of Gippsland South (dark green) in Victoria
State	Victoria
Created	1859
MP	Danny O'Brien
Party	National
Namesake	South Gippsland
Electors	42,564 (2018)
Area	7,429 km2 (2,868.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

The electoral district of Gippsland South (initially known as South Gippsland)^[1] is a Lower House electoral district of the Victorian Parliament.^[2] It is located within the Eastern Victoria Region of the Legislative Council.

Gippsland South extends along the state's coast from Venus Bay to Loch Sport^[3] and includes the country Victorian towns of Foster, Korumburra, Leongatha, Mirboo North, Port Albert, Port Welshpool, Rosedale, Sale and Yarram. The electorate includes all of South Gippsland Shire and the southern parts of Wellington Shire.^[3] Industries include agriculture, timber production and tourism. Dairying is the biggest agricultural contributor to the local economy.^[4] Natural features include Wilsons Promontory National Park, Corner Inlet, and a number of lakes and islands along the coast and border.

Its area was initially defined by the 1858 Electoral Act as: "Commencing at the mouth of Merryman's Creek^[a] on the Ninety Mile Beach; bounded on the north by Merryman's Creek to where the road from Tarraville to Rosedale crosses said creek near Bayless's pre-emptive right, thence by a line west fourteen degrees to Buneep; on the west by the counties of Evelyn and Mornington to Cape Patterson; and on the south and south-east by the sea-coast to the commencing point"^[5]

The Electoral Act Amendment Act of 1888 created new districts of Gippsland Central, Gippsland East and Gippsland West and reduced the size of Gippsland South (renaming it from South Gippsland) and Gippsland North.^[6]

It has never been won by the Labor Party, and has been in the hands of the National Party for all but two terms since 1929.

Sir Herbert Hyland held the seat for thirty years from 1929 until he died in office in 1970. He held many portfolios in government including Transport, Chief Secretary, State Development, Labour, Decentralisation and Transport and Prices. Hyland was knighted in 1952,^[6] and elected leader of the parliamentary Country Party in 1955.

The district is currently held by Nationals MP Danny O'Brien, who won the seat in a by-election in 2015 following the resignation of former Nationals leader Peter Ryan.

^a = now known as Merriman Creek

Members for Gippsland South[]

	Party	Term
Angus McMillan	Unaligned	–1860
George Hedley	Unaligned	–1862
	Unaligned	–1864
Peter Snodgrass	Unaligned	–1867
Thomas McCombie	Unaligned	–1869
George Macartney	Unaligned	–1871
Francis Mason	Unaligned	–1877
George Macartney	Unaligned	–1878
Francis Mason	Unaligned	–1886
Arthur Groom	Unaligned	–1889
Francis Mason	Unaligned	–1902
Thomas Livingston	Ministerialist	1902–1922
	Commonwealth Liberal
	Nationalist
Walter West	Nationalist	–1927
Henry Bodman	Independent	1927–1927
Walter West	Nationalist	–1929
Sir Herbert Hyland	Country	1929–1970
James Taylor	Liberal	1970–1973
Neil McInnes	National	1973–1982
Neil McInnes	Liberal	1973–1982
Tom Wallace	National	1982–1992
Peter Ryan	National	1992–2015
Danny O'Brien	National	2015–present

Election results[]

2018 Victorian state election: Gippsland South^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Danny O'Brien	22,813	61.91	+4.65
	Labor	Denise Ryan	10,464	28.40	+6.52
	Greens	Ian Onley	3,573	9.70	+0.08
Total formal votes			36,850	94.53	+0.04
Informal votes			2,131	5.47	−0.04
Turnout			38,981	91.58	−2.42
Two-party-preferred result
	National	Danny O'Brien	24,110	65.33	−0.34
	Labor	Denise Ryan	12,797	34.67	+0.34
	National hold		Swing	−0.34