It covers an area of 47 square kilometres (18 sq mi) in outer northern Melbourne, and includes the suburbs of Broadmeadows, Campbellfield, Coolaroo, Dallas, Fawkner, Jacana and Meadow Heights.

Kane held the seat until his death in 1962,[2] and was succeeded by Labor backbenchers John Wilton (1962–1985)[3] and Jack Culpin (1985–1988).

[4] In 1988 Culpin, a former member for abolished Glenroy, lost Labor preselection for Broadmeadows for that year's election to Jim Kennan, member of the Legislative Council and then Minister for Transport, who was attempting to switch to the Legislative Assembly.

Culpin resigned from the Labor Party and contested Broadmeadows as an independent, but was defeated by Kennan at the election.

[6] Kennan resigned as Opposition Leader and from parliament in June 1993, and was succeeded in Broadmeadows at the resulting by-election by John Brumby, a member of the Legislative Council and former federal MP, who like Kennan sought to switch to the Legislative Assembly.