, the division's namesake The division was created in 1900 and was one of the
original 65 divisions contested at the
first federal election. It is named after
Sir Charles Cowper, an early
Premier of New South Wales. 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. Its most prominent member has been
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) was shifted to the newly created
Division of Page in 1984. The division is located on the
north coast of New South Wales, and on its current boundaries takes in the towns of
Coffs Harbour,
Port Macquarie,
Kempsey,
Macksville and
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 election, the member for Cowper has been
Pat Conaghan, representing the
National Party of Australia. ==Members==