Darling Range was first created for the
1950 state election. The seat's first member was
Country MP
Ray Owen, who was previously the member for
Swan. The district was abolished ahead of the
1974 state election. By this time its member was
Liberal MP
Ian Thompson, who went on to represent the new district of
Kalamunda. Darling Range was recreated one term later for the
1977 state election. The seat was radically redistributed ahead of the
2008 state election, with 15% of the voters in the redrawn district coming from its former configuration. Half of the district's voters—and indeed the vast majority of its territory—previously belonged to the abolished district of
Serpentine-Jarrahdale, with the remainder coming from
Armadale and
Swan Hills. Thus, sitting Serpentine-Jarrahdale member, Liberal MP
Tony Simpson became the new member for Darling Range at the 2008 election, whilst the former member for Darling Range, Liberal MP
John Day, successfully contested the new seat of
Kalamunda. Simpson served as the MP for Darling Range until his defeat by
Barry Urban at the
2017 state election. This result marked the first time that the
Labor Party had ever won the seat. In May 2018, Urban resigned from parliament as the privileges committee recommended his expulsion over a series of false claims of his credentials. At the subsequent
by-election former
East Metropolitan MLC Alyssa Hayden recovered the seat for the Liberals. Hayden was defeated by
Labor candidate
Hugh Jones at the
2021 election, marking the second time
Labor had won the seat. ==Members for Darling Range==