Gippsland South extends along the state's coast from Venus Bay to Loch Sport[3] and includes the country Victorian towns of Foster, Korumburra, Leongatha, Mirboo North, Port Albert, Port Welshpool, Rosedale, Sale and Yarram.

[4] Wilsons Promontory National Park, Corner Inlet, and numerous lakes and islands along the coast and border are examples of natural features.

Its area was initially defined by the 1858 Electoral Act as: "Commencing at the mouth of Merryman's Creek[a] on the Ninety Mile Beach; bounded on the north by Merryman's Creek to where the road from Tarraville to Rosedale crosses said creek near Bayless's pre-emptive right, thence by a line west fourteen degrees to Buneep; on the west by the counties of Evelyn and Mornington to Cape Patterson; and on the south and south-east by the sea-coast to the commencing point"[5] The Electoral Act Amendment Act of 1888 created new districts of Gippsland Central, Gippsland East and Gippsland West and reduced the size of Gippsland South (renaming it from South Gippsland) and Gippsland North.

Sir Herbert Hyland held the seat for thirty years from 1929 until he died in office in 1970.

Hyland was knighted in 1952,[6] and elected leader of the parliamentary Country Party in 1955.