Electoral district of Barwon

For the district in Victoria, see Electoral district of Barwon (Victoria).

Barwon is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Roy Butler, a former member of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party who is now an independent MP.

Barwon New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Interactive map of district boundaries from the 2023 state election
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1894–1904 1927–present
MP	Roy Butler
Party	Independent
Namesake	Barwon River
Electors	55,154 (2019)
Area	356,291.70 km2 (137,565.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural
Electorates around Barwon: South Australia Queensland Queensland South Australia Barwon Northern Tablelands Tamworth South Australia Cootamundra Murray Dubbo Upper Hunter

Covering roughly 44% of the land mass of New South Wales, Barwon is by far the state's largest electoral district. It includes the local government areas of Bourke Shire, Brewarrina Shire, Narrabri Shire, Walgett Shire, Warrumbungle Shire, Coonamble Shire, Gilgandra Shire, Warren Shire, Bogan Shire, Lachlan Shire, Cobar Shire, Central Darling Shire, the City of Broken Hill as well as the large Unincorporated Far West Region surrounding Broken Hill.^[1][2][3]

History

Barwon was originally created in 1894, when it along with Moree, replaced Gwydir. In 1904, with the downsizing of the Legislative Assembly after Federation, Gwydir was recreated and Moree and Barwon were abolished. In 1927, with the breakup of the three-member Electoral district of Namoi, it was recreated.

Polling booth, Double Gates Hotel, c.1914

Originally a marginal seat that traded hands between the Labor Party and the conservative parties, it was considered a safe seat for the National Party who held it without interruption from 1950 until 2019, when it was won by the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.

Members for Barwon

First incarnation (1894–1904)
Member		Party	Term
	William Willis [4]	Protectionist	1894–1901
		Progressive	1901–1904
Second incarnation (1927–present)
Member		Party	Term
	Walter Wearne [5]	Nationalist	1927–1930
	Bill Ratcliffe [6]	Labor	1930–1932
	Ben Wade [7]	Country	1932–1940
	Roy Heferen [8]	Labor	1940–1950
	Geoff Crawford [9]	Country	1950–1976
	Wal Murray [10]	Country, National	1976–1995
	Ian Slack-Smith [11]	National	1995–2007
	Kevin Humphries [12]	National	2007–2019
	Roy Butler	Shooters, Fishers, Farmers	2019–2022
		Independent	2022–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Barwon

2023 New South Wales state election: Barwon^[13][14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Roy Butler	19,630	44.78	+44.78
	National	Annette Turner	11,158	25.45	−4.93
	Labor	Joshua Roberts-Garnsey	6,816	15.55	−5.37
	Shooters, Fishers, Farmers	Paul Britton	2,983	6.80	−26.16
	Legalise Cannabis	Ben Hartley	1,591	3.63	+3.63
	Greens	Pat Schultz	881	2.01	−1.01
	Independent	Stuart Howe	460	1.05	+1.05
	Public Education	Thomas McBride	318	0.73	+0.73
Total formal votes			43,837	96.94	+0.49
Informal votes			1,384	3.06	−0.49
Turnout			45,221	84.16	−2.64
Notional two-party-preferred count
	National	Annette Turner	15,971	60.76	+8.24
	Labor	Joshua Roberts-Garnsey	10,316	39.24	−8.24
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Roy Butler	23,868	65.99	+65.99
	National	Annette Turner	12,299	34.01	−9.39
	Member changed to Independent from Shooters, Fishers, Farmers

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2023 New South Wales state election (Legislative Assembly) § Barwon.[edit]

References

1. "Barwon". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
2. "Part 5B alphabetical list of all electorates and Members since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
3. "Former Members". Members of Parliament. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
4. "Mr William Nicholas Willis (1858-1922)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
5. "The Hon. Walter Ernest Wearne (1867–1931)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
6. "Mr Wilfred Joseph Ratcliffe (1880-1935)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
7. "Mr Benjamin Martin Wade (1883-1958)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
8. "Mr Stephen Roy Heferen (1898-1961)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
9. "The Hon. Geoffrey Robertson Crawford (1916–1998)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
10. "Mr (Wal) Wallace Telford John Murray (1931-2004)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
11. "Mr Ian Lindsay Slack-Smith (1946- )". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 24 September 2019. 2027
12. "The Hon. Kevin John Humphries (1960- )". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
13. LA First Preference: Barwon, NSW State Election Results 2023, NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
14. LA Two Candidate Preferred: Barwon, NSW State Election Results 2023, NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
15. Two Candidate Preferred (TCP) Analytical Tool: Barwon, NSW State Election Results 2023, NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 April 2023.