[1] The division was created in 1977 and is named after Sir Arthur Fadden, Prime Minister of Australia in 1941.

When it was created it included a large area south of Brisbane, from the far south of the city to the Gold Coast hinterland, and was a marginal seat that changed hands between the Liberal Party and Australian Labor Party.

A 1984 redistribution pushed it further into Brisbane, and it remained a marginal Liberal seat for most of the 1980s.

A 1996 redistribution pushed it into the Gold Coast, and since then it has been a comfortably safe Liberal seat.

By 2004, it had moved almost clear of its original boundaries to become an exclusively Gold Coast seat.