Wooroora was an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian colony (state from 1901) of South Australia.
The electorate was created by the Electoral Districts Act 1872 of the South Australian parliament but it was not until the provincial election of 1875 that candidates were first elected to represent Woorooroo. The electorate stretched from Gulf St Vincent in the west to Riverton in the east, spanning the central and northern Adelaide Plains from the River Light in the south to Hoyleton and Auburn north of the Wakefield River, in the north.
The structure of the parliament was changed and its membership reduced by the Constitution Act Amendment Act, 1901. The new Wooroora district elected three members and comprised the former Wooroora and Light districts.
According to South Australian historian Geoff Manning, the name derives from an Aboriginal name for the area, the (central) Adelaide Plains, about north of Adelaide (roughly where the Wakefield River crosses the plain).
The chief polling place was listed as Riverton, with subsidiary polling places at Humphrey's Springs (now Alma), Stockport, Port Wakefield, Balaklava, Auburn, Rhynie, Watervale, Tarlee, and Hoyleton. The electorate boundaries were defined as lands including the whole of the Hundreds of Goyder, Stow, Hall, Inkerman, Balaklava, Dalkey, and Alma as well as parts of the Hundreds of Dublin, Grace, Light, Gilbert, Upper Wakefield and Stanley. The number of members was set at two.
Members Two members (1875–1902)MemberPartyTermMemberPartyTerm H. E. Bright 1875–1884 James Pearce 1875–1875 John Bosworth 1875–1884 John Duncan 1884–1890 J. W. Castine 1884–1891 H. C. Kelly 1890–1891 Robert Kelly 1891–1893 Defence League1891–1896 James McLachlan, Sr. Defence League 1893–1896 1896–1902 National League 1896–1902
Three members (1902–1938)MemberPartyTermMemberPartyTermMemberPartyTerm Jenkin Coles National League1902–1910 David James National League1902–1910 F. W. Paech National League 1902–1908 Frederick Young Farmers and Producers 1909–1910 Liberal Union 1910–1911 Liberal Union1910–1918 Liberal Union1910–1915 Oscar Duhst Liberal Union 1912–1915 Richard Layton Butler Liberal Union 1915–1918 Albert Robinson Liberal Union1915–1924 James McLachlan Jr. Liberal Union1918–1923 Allan Robertson Labor 1918–1921 Richard Layton Butler Liberal Union 1921–1923 Liberal Federation1923–1930 Liberal Federation1923–1938 Liberal Federation 1923–1924 Allan Robertson Labor 1924–1927 Archie Cameron Country1927–1932 Samuel Dennison Country 1930–1932 Liberal and Country1932–1938 Liberal and Country1932–1938 Liberal and Country 1932–1934 Albert Robinson Independent 1934–1938
References
External links The 13 electorates from 1902 to 1915: The Adelaide Chronicle