The district took its name from the mining city of
Mount Isa, which held the great majority of the electorate's population. Most of the electorate was virtually unpopulated. Following the implementation of
one vote one value reforms in 1989, Mount Isa was one of five remote electorates that were allowed a greater variance from the average seat's population. The seat was held by the conservative parties for all but two terms in the first two decades of its existence, mostly coinciding with the height of
National dominance.
Labor took the seat in its
1989 landslide and held it for almost a quarter-century, usually without serious difficulty. It was one of the few areas of regional Queensland where Labor did well. In
2012, however,
Robbie Katter took the seat for
Katter's Australian Party on a massive
swing, pushing Labor into third place. Katter's father is
Bob Katter, the federal member for
Kennedy and the founder/leader of the Australian Party. The elder Katter had represented much of what had been Mount Isa for almost three decades; much of the eastern portion had been part of the elder Katter's state seat of
Flinders, and Mount Isa was virtually coextensive with the western portion of Kennedy. The younger Katter was re-elected with a similar margin in
2015, despite the Labor Party returning to government. As of the 2015 state election, it had 19,119 registered electors, a slight decrease from 19,170 in 2009. The district was abolished in the 2017 redistribution. Most of its northern portion, including Mount Isa, became part of the new seat of
Traeger. ==Members for Mount Isa==