The Electoral district of Ridley was an electoral district  of the South Australian House of Assembly

South Australian House of Assembly

The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...

, existing between 1938 and 1970 and between 1993 and 1997.

Named after John Ridley

John Ridley (inventor)

John Ridley was an English-born miller, inventor, landowner, investor, farming machinery manufacturer, farmer and preacher who lived in Australia between 1839 and 1853. He is best known for the development, manufacture and invention of "Ridley's Stripper", a machine that both reaped and threshed...

, the inventor of a successful threshing

Threshing

Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain from the scaly, inedible chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates the loosened chaff from the grain...

 machine, Ridley was a rural electorate located in the riverland area of South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, stretching along the southern bank of the Murray River

Murray River

The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...

 from Morgan

Morgan, South Australia

Morgan is a town in South Australia on the right bank of the Murray River, just downstream of where it turns from flowing roughly westwards to roughly southwards. It is about north east of Adelaide, and about upstream of the Murray Mouth. At the 2006 census, Morgan had a population of 426.The...

 to the New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 border. Ridley also contained the towns of Waikerie

Waikerie, South Australia

Waikerie is a rural town in the Riverland region of South Australia on the south bank of the Murray River. At the 2006 census, Waikerie had a population of 1,744. The Sturt Highway passes to the south of the town at the top of the cliffs...

, Lyrup

Lyrup, South Australia

Lyrup is a town in South Australia's rural Riverland area. Lyrup is located on the banks of the Murray River. It is 267 kilometres north-east of Adelaide, the capital of the state of South Australia and 25 kilometres from Renmark. At the 2006 census, Lyrup had a population of 502.Lyrup is...

 and Loxton

Loxton, South Australia

Loxton is a town on the south bank of the River Murray in the Riverland region of South Australia. At the 2006 census, Loxton had a population of 3,431....

.

Created for the 1938 South Australian election

South Australian state election, 1938

State elections were held in Australia on 19 March 1938. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League government led by Premier of South Australia Richard L. Butler defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader...

, following the change from multi-member to single-member electorates, Ridley was held by Tom Stott

Tom Stott

Tom Cleave Stott CBE spent 37 years as an independent member of the South Australian House of Assembly, serving as Speaker of the House from 1962 to 1965 and 1968 to 1970....

 for its entire existence. Stott was the longest serving independent in Australian political history.

Ridley was abolished at the 1970 election

South Australian state election, 1970

State elections were held in Australia on 30 May 1970. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Steele Hall was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Don...

, and the area subsumed into the neighbouring Electoral district of Albert.

Ridley was recreated as an electoral district in a 1991 redistribution for the 1993 election. In this incarnation, Ridley was 24,797 km² and contained the towns of Coonalpyn

Coonalpyn, South Australia

Coonalpyn is a small town in South Australia southeast of Adelaide on the Dukes Highway . Coonalpyn belongs to the The Coorong District Council and is in the State electorate of MacKillop and the Federal electorate of Barker.-Origin of the name:...

, Karoonda

Karoonda, South Australia

Karoonda is in the middle of the Murray Mallee region of South Australia at geographic coordinates . Karoonda takes its name from the Aboriginal word for "winter camp"....

, Murray Bridge

Murray Bridge, South Australia

Murray Bridge is the fourth most populous city in South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Whyalla. It is located east-southeast of Adelaide and north of Meningie....

, Lameroo

Lameroo, South Australia

Lameroo is a town in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia. It is on the Mallee Highway about 40 km west of the Victorian border, or 210 km east of Adelaide. It is primarily a service town for the surrounding rural areas, growing grain and sheep...

, Pinnaroo

Pinnaroo, South Australia

Pinnaroo is a town in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, near the border with Victoria 243 km east of Adelaide. Pinnaroo is on the Mallee Highway, and the railway line between Tailem Bend and Ouyen. The roadhouses on the highway are the first food and leg-stretch stop on the bus route...

, Tailem Bend

Tailem Bend, South Australia

Tailem Bend is a town on the Murray River in South Australia. The town was proclaimed in 1887, the year after the main railway came through. At the 2006 census, Tailem Bend had a population of 1,457....

 and Tintinara

Tintinara, South Australia

Tintinara is a town in South Australia on Dukes Highway and the Adelaide-Melbourne railway line. It is in the The Coorong District Council local government area, the South Australian House of Assembly Electoral district of MacKillop and the Australian House of Representatives Division of Barker...

. It was a safe Liberal

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 seat, existing until 1997, when it was renamed Hammond

Electoral district of Hammond

Hammond is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It is named after Ruby Hammond, the first indigenous woman to stand for the South Australian parliament...

.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Tom Stott Tom Stott Tom Cleave Stott CBE spent 37 years as an independent member of the South Australian House of Assembly, serving as Speaker of the House from 1962 to 1965 and 1968 to 1970....	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	1938–1970
	Peter Lewis Peter Lewis (politician) Ivan Peter Lewis is an Australian politician. Lewis was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly between 1979 and 2006 in the electorates of Hammond, Ridley, Murray-Mallee and Mallee. Between 1979 and 2000 he was in the House as a Liberal member. From 2000 until 2006 he served as an...	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	1993–1997