He was defeated at the 1933 election by a Labor candidate, but it reverted to an Independent Nationalist (later Liberal), Harry Shearn, who held the seat until his death on 25 January 1951.

Merv Toms won the seat for Labor at the 1956 election, while Edward Oldfield, the previous member, resigned from the Liberal Country League and held neighbouring Mount Lawley as an independent.

[2] Harman ended his 18-year political career with a three-year stint as Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, and on his retirement, North Province MLC Peter Dowding moved from the Upper House into the seat.

As the WA Inc scandal that came to be synonymous with his predecessor first became public knowledge then came to dominate political discourse in the State, Carmen Lawrence became premier on 12 February 1990, and he resigned from parliament two months later.

Maylands is an odd-shaped seat, bounded by the Swan River to the south, Tonkin Highway to the east, Walter Road to the north and northwest, and Eighth and Central Avenue to the southwest.