Division of Denison

The Division of Denison was an Australian electoral division in Tasmania. It was set up in 1903 and was named for Sir William Denison, the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land 1847-55 and Governor of New South Wales 1855–61. It covered an area of 289 km² around central Hobart. It included the suburbs of Glenorchy, New Town and Taroona. It was abolished in 2019 and replaced by the Division of Clark.

Denison Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Denison (green) in Tasmania
Created	1903
Abolished	2019
Namesake	William Denison
Electors	71,350 (2010)
Area	288 km2 (111.2 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

Members

Image		Member	Party	Term11Notes
		Sir Philip Fysh	Protectionist	1903–1906	Previously held the Division of Tasmania. Served as minister under Alfred Deakin. Retired.
			Anti-Socialist	1906–1909
			Commonwealth Liberal	1909–1910
		William Laird Smith	Labor	1910–1916	Served as minister under Hughes. Lost seat
			National Labor	1916–1917
			Nationalist	1917–1922
		David O'Keefe	Labor	1922–1925	Previously a member of the Senate. Lost seat. Elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly seat of Wilmot in 1934.
		Sir John Gellibrand	Nationalist	1925–1928	Lost seat.
		Charles Culley	Labor	1928–1931	Previously held the Tasmanian House of Assembly seat of Denison. Served as minister under Scullin. Lost seat. Elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly seat of Denison in 1934.
		Arthur Hutchin	United Australia	1931–1934	Lost seat.
		Gerald Mahoney	Labor	1934–1940	Previously held the Tasmanian House of Assembly seat of Denison. Lost seat
		Arthur Beck	United Australia	1940–1943	Lost seat
		John Gaha	Labor	1943–1949	Previously a member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council. Retired. Elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly seat of Denison in 1950.
		Athol Townley	Liberal	1949–1964	Served as minister under Robert Menzies. Died in office
		Adrian Gibson	Liberal	1964–1969	Retired
		Robert Solomon	Liberal	1969–1972	Lost seat
		John Coates	Labor	1972–1975	Lost seat. Elected to the Senate in 1980.
		Michael Hodgman	Liberal	1975–1987	Previously a member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council. Served as minister under Malcolm Fraser. Lost seat. Elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly seat of Denison in 1992.
		Duncan Kerr	Labor	1987–2010	Served as minister under Paul Keating. Retired
		Andrew Wilkie	Independent	2010–2019	Moved to the Division of Clark after Denison was abolished in 2019

Sir Philip Fysh was a member of the first federal Cabinet. Athol Townley was the Minister for Defence in the Menzies Government. Townley resigned in 1964 when he was named Ambassador to the United States, but he died before taking up the appointment. Andrew Wilkie resigned from his position in an Australian intelligence agency. He believed that information was being misrepresented by the Howard Government for political purposes during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Denison has had 16 different members, the most of any federal electorate.

Election results

• 2004 election results
• 2007 election results
• 2010 election results
• 2013 election results
• 2016 election results

Other websites

• Division of Denison - Australian Electoral Commission
• Andrew Wilkie's website Archived 2013-08-13 at the Wayback Machine