The seat was first proclaimed in 1901 and was named after the second Governor of New South Wales, John Hunter (1737-1821).
Since 1901 only nine people have been elected to represent the seat of Hunter in the Federal Parliament. The first Member for Hunter was Sir Edmund Barton who served as Prime Minister between 1 January 1901 and 24 September 1903.
At the time of the last Federal Election in 2001, there were 84649 electors enrolled to vote in an area of approximately 10594 sq km.
The main townships of the electorate include; Muswellbrook, Denman, Aberdeen, Merriwa, Scone, Singleton, Branxton, Bolwarra, Broke, Maitland, Kurri Kurri, Cessnock and Wollombi.
The Local Government areas of Muswellbrook, Singleton, Cessnock and Maitland fall within the electorate boundaries.
Hunter also includes the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Cessnock, parts of Maitland and Upper Hunter.
The main industries and products of the area include; aluminium smelting, coal mining, wine grapes, dairying, timber, clothing manufacture, wheat, wool, lambs, beef and dairy cattle, pigs, oats, hay, lucerne, fruit, vegetables, hardwood, timber milling, engineering works and stud farms. The power stations of Liddell and Bays Water also fall within the electorate.
In November 2006, the Australian Electoral Commission finalised the latest re-distribution of the federal boundaries. Undertaken every seven years, re-distributions address population shifts and attempt to ensure that each state has the right number of electorates and each electorate has an equal number of voters.
The new Hunter electorate has grown to 18,604sq km and includes the Cessnock, Singleton, Muswellbrook local government areas and most of Maitland. Sadly Bolwarra, Lorn, Largs, Metford, Tenambit and parts of East Maitland have been transferred to the Paterson electorate.
For a detailed map of the electorate click here 2009 Hunter Electorate Map.