St Kilda (New Zealand electorate)

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 St Kilda.^[1] The original electorate covered the southern part of Otago Peninsula and some of the settlements that form the suburb of South Dunedin, including St Kilda.^[2] It thus took up most of the area that previously belonged to the Dunedin Central electorate (which in itself took over most of the area that previously belonged to the Dunedin West electorate), and some area that had belonged to the Dunedin South electorate (which was abolished).^[3]

The southern part of Otago Peninsula has always belonged to the St Kilda electorate until the 1987 electoral redistribution, and the various electoral redistributions determined how much of the suburb of South Dunedin belonged to the electorate.^[4][5]

The electorate was created in 1946,^[6] and was abolished in 1996 (the first election using the mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) system), when it was absorbed into the Dunedin South electorate.

The first representative was Fred Jones. He previously represented the Dunedin South electorate and retired at the end of two parliamentary terms of representing St Kilda in 1951.^[7]