[1] Bulimba has existed continuously since the 1873 election, originally covering most of the outer south-east of Brisbane.

Although ALP candidate Robert Gardner was elected in Bulimba in the 1950 election, the close result caused close scrutiny of the votes and revealed that fraudulent votes had been cast in Gardner's favour.

Finally, a by-election was held on 14 April 1951 (almost 12 months after the original election) with the ballot boxes under police guard.

Gardner was defeated by Jack Houston of the regular ALP, who held the seat until 1980 and was the state's Opposition Leader from 1966 until 1974.

In the 2015 election, Bulimba was the most marginal seat held by the LNP and was regained by Di Farmer of the ALP.