| THE POLL BLUDGER GROOM
Groom takes in Toowoomba and the Darling Downs about 100km west of Brisbane. The redistribution transfers the Shire of Clifton at the southern end to Maranoa, with no impact on the margin. Known until 1984 as Darling Downs, the seat was created at federation and has never been held by Labor. Arthur Fadden began his federal career here when he won the seat from the United Australia Party in 1936, and for the next 52 years the seat changed hands between the Liberals and the National/Country Party each time a setting member departed. With Fadden's move to the new seat of McPherson in 1949, it was won for the Liberals by Reginald Schwarz; when he retired in 1972 it went to Tom McVeigh of the Country Party; with McVeigh's retirement in 1988, Bill Taylor won it for the Liberals at a by-election. The cycle was broken in 1998 when Liberal candidate Ian MacFarlane polled 33.1 per cent against 15.2 per cent for the Nationals candidate, who finished behind One Nation (18.0 per cent). | |