Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission.

[1] The division was created at the Federal redistribution of 12 September 1984 as a reconfigured version of the abolished Division of Wilmot.

The name jointly honours Joseph Lyons, Prime Minister of Australia 1932–39, Member for Wilmot from 1929–39, and his wife Dame Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the Australian House of Representatives (1943) and subsequently the first female member of Cabinet (1949–51).

Joseph Lyons had previously represented Wilmot at the state level from 1909 to 1929.

It is located in central Tasmania, stretching from the eastern to northern coast and includes such places as New Norfolk, Deloraine and St Marys, as well as the outer northern suburbs of Hobart.