It was created prior to the 2002 election in order to replace the abolished seats of Portland and Warrnambool.

The seat is dominated by the town of Warrnambool, but also includes Portland, Port Fairy, Koroit, Heywood and Macarthur.

South-West Coast is located in ancestrally Liberal territory, and was thus a natural choice for Portland's former member, Denis Napthine, to transfer for the 2002 election.

He barely held onto his seat in the Labor landslide of that year, seeing his margin reduced to only 0.7 percent.

Following his government's election loss to Labor in November 2014, Napthine resigned from parliament on 3 September 2015.