Editing Division of Cowper (section)

==History==
[[File:Charlescowper.jpg|150px|thumb|left|[[Charles Cowper|Sir Charles Cowper]], the division's namesake]]
The division was created in 1900 and was one of the [[List of Australian electorates contested at every election|original 65 divisions]] contested at the [[1901 Australian federal election|first federal election]]. It is named after [[Charles Cowper|Sir Charles Cowper]], an early [[Premier of New South Wales]].<ref name="cowper">{{Citation|url=http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/nsw/cowper.htm|title=Profile of the Electoral Division of Cowper|publisher=Australian Electoral Commission|access-date=9 May 2012}}</ref>

Except for one brief break, the seat has been held by the National Party (previously known as the Country Party) and its predecessors since 1919.<ref name = "cowper"/> Its most prominent member has been [[Earle Page|Sir Earle Page]], former leader of the Country Party and interim [[Prime Minister of Australia]] in 1939.  He represented Cowper from 1919 to 1961, longer than any other MP who represented one seat for his entire career. It has usually been a fairly safe National Party seat, and became more so when its more urbanised area (including Page's hometown of [[Grafton, New South Wales|Grafton]]) was shifted to the newly created [[Division of Page]] in 1984.

The division is located on the [[Mid North Coast|north coast]] of New South Wales, and on its current boundaries takes in the towns of [[Coffs Harbour]], [[Port Macquarie]], [[Kempsey, New South Wales|Kempsey]],  [[Macksville, New South Wales|Macksville]] and [[Nambucca Heads, New South Wales|Nambucca Heads]].

In February 2016, New South Wales federal electoral districts were redistributed. The northern parts of Cowper, from Sapphire Beach to Red Rock were shifted to the division of Page. Since the [[2019 Australian federal election|2019 election]], the member for Cowper has been [[Pat Conaghan]], representing the [[National Party of Australia]].
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