The Division of Werriwa is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The name Werriwa derives from a local Aboriginal name for Lake George, which was located in the division when it was established in 1900. The division was one of the original 65 divisions first contested at the first federal election.

, Werriwa covers an area west of Liverpool in south-west Sydney.

The current Member for Werriwa, since the 2016 federal election, is Anne Stanley, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

Geography

When the division was created in 1900, it covered the south-western areas of the Southern Highlands and South West Slopes. It included areas such as Harden, Yass, Goulburn, Lake George and what would eventually later be northern Canberra. It was bordered by the Abercrombie River to the north and part of Molonglo River to the south. In 1906, it lost areas in the south including Lake George to the Division of Eden-Monaro, but gained Cootamundra and Young in the west from the divisions of Hume and Bland (abolished) respectively.

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 from Division of Calare. It also gained 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. 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. As a result, the division became fully located within Western 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. The division includes the suburbs of Ashcroft, Austral, Bonnyrigg Heights, Busby, Carnes Hill, Cartwright, Casula, Cecil Hills, Edmondson Park, Green Valley, Heckenberg, Hinchinbrook, Horningsea Park, Hoxton Park, Lurnea, Middleton Grange, Miller, Prestons, Sadleir, and West Hoxton; as well as parts of Bonnyrigg, Glenfield, Kemps Creek, Mount Pritchard, and Rossmore.

History

thumb|left|[[Lake George (New South Wales)|Lake George, the Aboriginal name of which is the division's namesake]]

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 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.

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 Minister Gough 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).

Werriwa is home to relatively large immigrant communities. According to the , 68.3% of residents had both parents born outside of Australia. 37.6% of people only speak English at home.