In 1913, it lost its southern one-third including Yass and Cootamundra to Eden-Monaro and Hume respectively, but gained areas to the north-west and majority of the Southern Highlands and Camden in the north-east, marking its first expansion into the outskirts of Sydney. In 1922, it lost areas to the west to Hume and, Calare and parts of the Southern Highlands in the south-east to Eden-Monaro, but gained areas to the north-east such as Campbelltown, Sutherland Shire and Wollongong. This effectively shifted the division eastwards to the coast.[3][2][6][5]
In 1934, it lost its western two-thirds such as Goulburn, mostly to the Division of Macquarie, and to a smaller extent the divisions of Hume and Eden-Monaro.[7][3][2] However, it also gained small areas further east at Dapto in the Illawarra and Liverpool in Sydney. In 1949, it lost all areas west and south-west of Liverpool, including all remaining areas in the Southern Highlands, to the new Division of Macarthur.[8] It also lost most of the Illawarra to the new division. In 1955, it lost all areas in the Sutherland Shire and any remaining areas in the Illawarra to the new Division of Hughes.[9] As a result, the division became fully located within Sydney. In the same redistribution, the division was also expanded to the north to cover areas west of Parramatta, such as Westmead and Wentworthville. It lost these northern gains in 1968.[5]
In 1977, the division was massively expanded to the south-west to again cover areas in the City of Campbelltown and Camden Council (but excluding Camden). Its extent covered as far as Appin to the south. It lost most of the Camden Council areas, Appin and Liverpool in 1983, and lost areas south of Campbelltown in 1992.[5]
In 2000, it lost Campbelltown to the division of Macarthur.[8] It also gained areas to the north-west such as Austral and Kemps Creek, but this was reversed in 2006. It regained Austral in 2009, In 2016, it lost its southern half to Macarthur but gained areas in the north and north-west, including Bonnyrigg, Kemps Creek, Badgerys Creek and Bringelly.[8] This effectively shifted the division northwards. In 2024, it lost Badgerys Creek and the new suburb of Bradfield (previously part of Bringelly) to Hume, and lost Glenfield and Macquarie Fields to Hughes.[3][9][5]
Since 1934, there is no longer an overlap between the division and the area it originally covered at federation, as the division had effectively moved north-east towards Sydney in the first thirty years of federation.[5]
Originally, Werriwa was a large and mostly rural electorate that stretched from south-west Sydney to the northern part of what is now the ACT, and included the Southern Highlands, Goulburn, and part of the South West Slopes. In succeeding years, with demographic change and electoral redistributions, Werriwa began to shrink and, from 1913 onwards, no longer included Lake George. It underwent several other major changes to its borders over the years. The 1949 expansion of Parliament saw Werriwa lose most of its remaining rural territory to the newly created Division of Macarthur and move to approximately its current position in south-west Sydney, over 150 kilometres (93mi) away from Lake George. However, it has retained the name of Werriwa, primarily as it is an original Federation electorate—the Australian Electoral Commission's guidelines on electoral redistributions require it to preserve the names of original Federation electorates where possible.[11]
It is a very safe seat for Labor, which has held it continuously since 1934 and for all but nine years since 1906.
Werriwa is best remembered for being the electorate of former Prime MinisterGough Whitlam, who held it from 1952 to 1978. It was represented from 1994 to 2005 by one of Whitlam's former aides, Mark Latham, the leader of the ALP and Leader of the Opposition from 2003 to 2005. In more recent times, a by-election in March 2005 resulted in Labor's Chris Hayes elected with over 55% of the vote, in a 16-candidate race which saw no other candidate poll above 8%.
Demographics
Werriwa is a heavily working class electorate and is considered part of Labor's Western Sydney "Red Wall" (seats that are reliably safe for Labor).[12]
Werriwa is home to relatively large immigrant communities. According to the 2021 census, 68.3% of residents had both parents born outside of Australia.[13] 37.6% of people only speak English at home.[13] Other languages spoken at home include Arabic at 11.4%, Vietnamese at 6.4%, Hindi at 3.6%, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic at 2.5% and Spanish at 2.2%.[13]
Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Werriwa in the 2022 federal election. Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.
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