The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. The division is named after the area in which it is located, namely the Richmond Valley and Richmond River, which was named in honour of Charles, the fifth Duke of Richmond. Historically, the division has been a rural seat and fairly safe for the National Party, which held it for all but six years from 1922 to 2004. For 55 of those years, it was held by three generations of the Anthony family—Hubert Lawrence Anthony, Doug Anthony and Larry Anthony —the first three-generation dynasty in the Australian House of Representatives. However, it became far less safe for the Nationals from 1983 onward, and strong population growth over the last three decades has seen it progressively lose its rural territory and reduced it to a more coastal-based and urbanised division. Accompanying demographic change has made the seat friendlier to Labor since the 1990s. The division's most notable member outside of the Anthony family was Charles Blunt, leader of the National Party from 1989 to 1990. His tenure was short-lived, however. Just months after becoming leader of the Nationals, he was defeated in the 1990 election when the preferences of anti-nuclear activistHelen Caldicott allowed Neville Newell to claim the seat for Labor for the first time ever, despite only winning 27 percent of first preferences. It was only the second time that a major party leader had lost his own seat in an election. Larry Anthony regained the seat for the Nationals in 1996, only to be defeated by Labor's Justine Elliot in 2004—the first time a member of the Anthony family had been unseated in an election. In 2007, Elliot picked up a large swing as Labor won government, technically making Richmond a safe Labor seat. She retained the seat at the 2010, 2013 and 2016 elections. The victory in 2013 came even as Labor lost government, marking the second time that the non-Labor parties have been in government without holding Richmond. Richmond had the sixth highest vote for the Australian Greens, and saw the highest rural seat vote for the Greens in the nation. A redistribution ahead of the 2016 election pushed the seat to the south, into the area around Ballina. Much of this area is in the state seat of Ballina, which was taken by the Greens at the 2015 state election.
