 The seat was created in 1976 and traditionally has had a working class character and has been safe for the Labor Party.However, since the 1990s the area has been gentrifying and the seat was won by the Liberal Party against the trend at the 1996 election.However, the seat was narrowly recovered by Labor due to the Anti-Kennett swing in 1999 and the 'Brackslide' of 2002 reverted the seat to its original safe Labor status.