Australian federal electoral division
The Division of La Trobe is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria . It is a semi-urban electorate extending from the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne to the westernmost areas of Gippsland . It fully incorporates the suburbs of Beaconsfield , Officer and Pakenham , the majority of Clyde North and Harkaway , and eastern portions of Berwick . The division also covers towns beyond the metropolitan area such as Beaconsfield Upper , Bunyip , Cockatoo , Emerald , Garfield , Gembrook , Koo Wee Rup , Lang Lang , Nar Nar Goon and Pakenham Upper .
Geography
Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission . Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.[1]
History
Charles La Trobe , the division's namesakeThe division was proclaimed at the redistribution of 11 May 1949, and was first contested at the 1949 election . It was named after Charles La Trobe , the first Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria . It was originally located closer to the city, but redistributions moved it further south-east. It originally included the suburbs of Croydon , Dandenong , Ferntree Gully and Ringwood .
The first person to hold the seat was Richard Casey, Baron Casey , later the sixteenth Governor-General of Australia and the last of three Australian politicians to be elevated to the British House of Lords . The Division of Casey , which borders this division to the north, is named after him. In 1961, the division was the subject of a book, Parties and People: A Survey Based on the La Trobe Electorate , by Creighton Burns .
