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Kimberley Electorate Profile (2025)

About the Kimberley Electorate

Map showing the boundaries of the Kimberley electorate for the 2025 election

PDF version of the Kimberley electorate map PDF/pdf-file.png

Area (sq km): 839,289
Number of Electors: 29,172 (16,583 + 12,589 large district allowance)
Source: 2023 Final Distribution Report, Western Australian Electoral Distribution Commission.

Origin of the Name:
Named after the Kimberley District. Following discovery of the district by Alexander Forrest in 1879, it was decided to open the new district for settlement. Governor Sir William Robinson sent copies of suggested land regulations to the earl of Kimberley, the secretary of state for the colonies, and in his dispatch said that it was proposed that the new country should be called the 'Kimberley District'. This name was approved by the earl in a telegram dated 26 August 1880.
Source: Western Australia. Department of Land Administration. Names and Places.

Suburbs and Towns within the electorate:
The electorate of Kimberley includes all or part of Bilingurr, Broome, Cable Beach, Camballin, Dampier, Derby, Djugun, Durack, Fitzroy Crossing, Gibb, Gingerah, Halls Creek, Jarlmadangah Burru, Kalumburu, Kimbolton, Kundat Djaru, Kununurra, Kupartiya, Lagrange, Lake Argyle, McBeath, Meda, Minyirr, Oombulgurri, Roebuck, Tanami, Telfer, Warmun, Waterbank, Willare and Wyndham.
Source: Western Australian Electoral Commission.


Local Governments within the Electorate:
Shire of Broome
Shire of Halls Creek
Shire of Derby-West Kimberley
Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley

Schools
Government: Bayulu Remote Community School; Broome North Primary School; Broome Primary School; Broome Senior High School; Cable Beach Primary School; Dawul Remote Community School; Derby District High School; Djugerari Remote Community High School; East Kimberley College; Fitzroy Valley District High School; Halls Creek District High School; Jungdranung Remote Community School; Kalumburu Remote Community School; Kimberley School of the Air; La Grange Remote Community School; Looma Remote Community school; Muludja Remote Community school; Ngalapita Remote Community School; One Arm Point Remote Community school; Roebuck Primary School; Wananami Remote Community School; Wangkatjungka Remote Community school; Wyndham District High school.

Other: ALTA-1 Kimberley College; Birlirr Ngawiyiwu Catholic School; Christ the King Catholic School; Holy Rosary School; John Pujajangka Piyirn School; Kulkarriya Comunity School; Kururrungku Catholic Education Centre; Luurnpa Catholic School; Ngalangangpum School; Nyikina Mangala Community School; Parnngurr Community School; Purnululu Aboriginal Independent Community School; RAWA Community School; Sacred Heart School; St Joseph's School/Kununurra; St Joseph's School/Wyndham; St Martin de Porres School; St Mary's College; Warlawurru Catholic School; Wulungarra School; Yakanarra Community School; Yiramalay / Wesley Studio School; Yiyili Aboriginal Community School


Books about Kimberley:
  • John Thompson-Gray: Love, Luck and Larceny (2015)
  • Kevin Moran: Sand and stone - Pigeon (Hesperian Press, 2011)
  • Kevin Moran: Sand and stone - cattle and conflict (Hesperian Press, 2010)
  • Hugh Edwards: Kimberley - dreaming to diamonds (251p. Hugh Edwards, 1991)
  • Hugh Edwards: Port of pearls - a history of Broome (196p. Rigby, 1983)
  • Remi Balagai: This is your place - Beagle Bay mission 1890-1990, birthplace and cradle of the Catholic presence in the Kimberley (166p. Pallottine Centre, 2001)
  • Roger Garwood: Broome - landscapes and people (98p. Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1983)
  • John Bailey: The white divers of Broome - the true story of a fatal experiment (301p. Pan McMillan, 2001)
  • Barney Barnes: Raparapa - stories of the Fitzroy River drover (288p. Magabala Books, 2011)
  • Cathie Clement: Old Halls Creek, a town remembered (68p. National Heritage, 2000)
  • Norma Wainwright: Kununurra, from dreams to reality (421p. Norma Wainwright, 2006)
  • Rod Dickson: The price of a pearl (191p. Hesperian Press, 2002)
  • Susan Sickert: Beyond the lattice, Broome's early years (199p. Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2003)
  • Rosemary Hemphill: The master pearler's daughter - memories of my Broome childhood (270p. Pan MacMillan, 2004)
  • L Burges: Pioneers of Nor'-West Australia, pastoral and pearling (25p. Hesperian Press, 2008)
  • Tim Willing: Under a regent moon - a historical account of pioneer pastoralists Joseph Bradshaw and Aeneas Gunn at Marigui Settlement, Prince Regent River, Kimberley, Western Australia, 1891-1892 (66p. Dept of Conservation and Land Management, 2002)
  • James Battye: The history of the North West of Australia - embracing Kimberley, Gascoyne and Murchison districts (318p. Jones, 1915)
  • Hamlet Cornish: Pioneering in the Kimberleys (25p. Hesperian Press, 2011)
  • Bill Withers: Frontier dreaming - a light hearted look at the birth of a Kimberley frontier town (160p. W R Withers, 1997)
  • W A Beattie: Australia's North-West challenge (183p. Kimberley Publishing, 1980)
  • Mary Jebb: Blood, sweat and welfare, a history of white bosses and Aboriginal pastoral workers (364p. UWA Press, 2002)
  • Peter Bridge: Russian Jack (134p. Hesperian Press, 2002)
  • Ken Mellowship: Wyndham, with a ton of salt (49p. Hesperian Press, 2004)
  • Janet Holman: Legend of the Kimberley - the life and stories of Lawson Holman, flying doctor and flying surgeon (170p. Hesperian Press, 2005)
  • Lucy Marshall: Reflections of a Kimberley woman (Madjulla, 2004)
  • Howard Pedersen: Jandamarra and the Bunuba resistance (216p. Magabala Books, 1995)
  • R Pilmer: Northern patrol, an Australian saga (179p. Hesperian Press, 1996)
  • Magdalene Williams: Ngay Janijirr ngank (This is my word) (121p. Magabala Books, 1999)
  • W Charnley: Pigeon (27p. Hesperian Press, 2010)
  • W Charnley: The tragic pearl (24p. Hesperian Press, 2010)
  • W Charnley:The McGuire mystery - killers of the Kimberley coast (18p. Hesperian Press, 2010)
  • Sandy Toussaint: Kimberley Stories (212p. Fremantle Press, 2012)
  • Steve Hawke: A town is born: the Fitzroy Crossing story (215p. Magabala Books, 2019)

Statistical Profile of the Kimberley Electorate

Successive Members for the Kimberley Electorate

Constituency created under the Redistribution of Seats 1903

Name Party Term
Francis Connor Independent 1904 - 1905
Arthur Male Ministerialist 1905 - 1917
Michael Patrick Durack Nationalist 1917 - 1924
Aubrey Augustus Michael Coverley Australian Labor Party 1924 - 1953
John Joseph Rhatigan Australian Labor Party 1953b - 1968
Keith Alan Ridge Liberal and Country League 1968 - 1980
Ernest (Ernie) Francis Bridge Australian Labor Party 1980 - 1996
Ernest (Ernie) Francis Bridge Independent 1996 - 2001
Carol Anne Martin Australian Labor Party 2001 - 2013
Josephine (Josie) Farrer Australian Labor Party 2013 - 2021
Divina D'Anna Australian Labor Party 2021 -

b = by-election
Source:
Black, David & Valerie Prescott. Election Statistics: Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996. Perth, WA: Parliament of Western Australia Electoral Commission, 1997.
Parliament of Western Australia, Members (website) http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au