The division is the southernmost in Australia, located in southern Tasmania around the state capital, Hobart.

As at the 2016 election, slightly more than half its electors are located on the eastern shore of the River Derwent, incorporating the entire City of Clarence and the suburb of Old Beach from Brighton Council.

The division also includes the southern parts of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and Macquarie Island, neither of which have permanent populations.

In 2005, sitting Labor member Harry Quick announced that he would retire at the 2007 election.

When Labor preselected union official Kevin Harkins as a replacement, Quick, seeing him as unsuitable, appeared to endorse the Liberal candidate, Vanessa Goodwin, which was partly responsible for his expulsion from the Labor party.