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Onslow (New Zealand electorate)

Onslow was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, from 1946 to 1963, and then again from 1993 to 1996 in the Wellington area. It was represented by three Members of Parliament throughout the years it existed.

The 1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, eight former electorates were re-established, and 19 electorates were created for the first time, including Onslow.^[1]

The electorate covered the northern suburbs of the city of Wellington, i.e. Ngaio, Khandallah and Johnsonville. The name Onslow comes from the former Borough of Onslow which covered Wadestown until April 1907 its south ward and its most populous area^[2] and the remaining Khandallah Ngaio areas until they too joined Wellington City in 1919.

The electorate was established for the 1946 election.

The unsuccessful National candidate in 1954 was Wilfred Fortune, who had represented Eden in Auckland from 1946 to 1954.

The electorate lasted until the 1963 election, when the Karori electorate was established.

The electorate was re-established in the 1993 election to replace Ohariu. Peter Dunne, who had previously represented the Ohariu electorate, was the successful candidate.^[3] For the first MMP election, the 1996 election, it was renamed back to Ohariu-Belmont, and included Belmont in the Hutt Valley.

The Onslow electorate was represented by three Members of Parliament.^[4]

Key

  Labour   Independent   Future   United NZ

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.