Named after John Ridley, the inventor of a successful threshing machine,[1] Ridley was a rural electorate located in the riverland area of South Australia, stretching along the southern bank of the Murray River from Morgan to the New South Wales border.
Created for the 1938 South Australian election, following the change from multi-member to single-member electorates, Ridley was held by Tom Stott for its entire existence.
Stott was the longest serving independent in Australian political history.
In this incarnation, Ridley was 24,797 km² and contained the towns of Coonalpyn, Karoonda, Murray Bridge, Lameroo, Pinnaroo, Tailem Bend and Tintinara.
[5] It was a safe Liberal seat, existing until 1997, when it was renamed Hammond.