William Read, who won the 1945 by-election and remained in parliament until the 1953 state election, is the only non-Labor candidate to have held the seat.

Davies left parliament in 1986 after his appointment as Agent-General for Western Australia in London, and at the resulting by-election, held on 7 June 1986, Geoff Gallop, a lecturer at Murdoch University, was elected.

He retired from politics and as premier on 16 January 2006 in order to aid his recovery from depression, and that "in the interests of my health and my family, I've decided to rethink my career.

"[3] Labor's Ben Wyatt won the resulting by-election, with a 5% swing to the opposition Liberal candidate.

[4] In the 2007 redistribution, the seat lost Cannington, Queens Park, Wilson and parts of Welshpool, while gaining parts of Kensington and all sections of East Victoria Park west of Berwick Street and Hill View Terrace which had been allocated to South Perth in the previous redistribution.