Division of Balaclava facts for kids

The Division of Balaclava was an area in Victoria that elected a person to the Australian Parliament. Think of it like a special zone where people vote for their representative. This division was created for Australia's very first federal election in 1901.

It was named after the suburb of Balaclava. This suburb got its name from a famous battlefield during the Crimean War. The Balaclava division included rich suburbs in southern Melbourne, such as Brighton and Sandringham. This division stopped existing in 1984 and was replaced by a new one called the Division of Goldstein.

Who Represented Balaclava?

Over the years, several people were elected to represent the Balaclava division in the Australian Parliament. These people are called Members of Parliament (MPs).

• The first MP for Balaclava was Sir George Turner. He was a member of the Protectionist Party and later the Free Trade Party.
• Agar Wynne followed him, representing different parties like the Independent Protectionist and Commonwealth Liberal Party.
• William Watt was another long-serving MP for Balaclava, representing the Commonwealth Liberal Party and later the Nationalist Party.
• Thomas White represented Balaclava for many years, starting with the Nationalist Party and later the United Australia Party and the Liberal Party. He even became a minister, looking after Air and Civil Aviation.
• After Thomas White, Percy Joske became the MP. He later resigned to become a judge.
• Ray Whittorn then represented the area for a long time.
• The last person to represent Balaclava was Ian Macphee, from the Liberal Party, until the division was abolished in 1984.

Sometimes, an MP might leave their job before the next election. When this happens, a special election called a by-election is held just for that division to choose a new representative. This happened twice in Balaclava's history: once when Thomas White resigned to become a diplomat in the United Kingdom, and again when Percy Joske became a judge.