diff --git a/rest_framework/compat.py b/rest_framework/compat.py
index 8555c21be..e7a73adda 100644
--- a/rest_framework/compat.py
+++ b/rest_framework/compat.py
@@ -199,8 +199,6 @@ if 'patch' not in View.http_method_names:
     View.http_method_names = View.http_method_names + ['patch']
 
 
-# RequestFactory only provides `generic` from 1.5 onwards
-from django.test.client import RequestFactory as DjangoRequestFactory
 from django.test.client import FakePayload
 
 try:
@@ -211,24 +209,30 @@ except ImportError:
     from django.utils.encoding import smart_str as force_bytes_or_smart_bytes
 
 
-class RequestFactory(DjangoRequestFactory):
-    def generic(self, method, path,
-            data='', content_type='application/octet-stream', **extra):
-        parsed = _urlparse(path)
-        data = force_bytes_or_smart_bytes(data, settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET)
-        r = {
-            'PATH_INFO': self._get_path(parsed),
-            'QUERY_STRING': force_text(parsed[4]),
-            'REQUEST_METHOD': six.text_type(method),
-        }
-        if data:
-            r.update({
-                'CONTENT_LENGTH': len(data),
-                'CONTENT_TYPE': six.text_type(content_type),
-                'wsgi.input': FakePayload(data),
-            })
-        r.update(extra)
-        return self.request(**r)
+# RequestFactory only provides `generic` from 1.5 onwards
+if django.VERSION >= (1, 5):
+    from django.test.client import RequestFactory
+else:
+    from django.test.client import RequestFactory as DjangoRequestFactory
+
+    class RequestFactory(DjangoRequestFactory):
+        def generic(self, method, path,
+                data='', content_type='application/octet-stream', **extra):
+            parsed = _urlparse(path)
+            data = force_bytes_or_smart_bytes(data, settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET)
+            r = {
+                'PATH_INFO': self._get_path(parsed),
+                'QUERY_STRING': force_text(parsed[4]),
+                'REQUEST_METHOD': six.text_type(method),
+            }
+            if data:
+                r.update({
+                    'CONTENT_LENGTH': len(data),
+                    'CONTENT_TYPE': six.text_type(content_type),
+                    'wsgi.input': FakePayload(data),
+                })
+            r.update(extra)
+            return self.request(**r)
 
 
 # Markdown is optional
diff --git a/tests/test_request.py b/tests/test_request.py
index ebf94530b..03d9f8e49 100644
--- a/tests/test_request.py
+++ b/tests/test_request.py
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ from rest_framework.test import APIRequestFactory, APIClient
 from rest_framework.views import APIView
 from io import BytesIO
 import json
+import django
+import pytest
 
 
 factory = APIRequestFactory()
@@ -275,3 +277,16 @@ class TestAuthSetter(TestCase):
         request = Request(factory.get('/'))
         request.auth = 'DUMMY'
         self.assertEqual(request.auth, 'DUMMY')
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(django.VERSION < (1, 7),
+                    reason='secure argument is only available for django1.7+')
+class TestSecure(TestCase):
+
+    def test_default_secure_false(self):
+        request = Request(factory.get('/', secure=False))
+        self.assertEqual(request.scheme, 'http')
+
+    def test_default_secure_true(self):
+        request = Request(factory.get('/', secure=True))
+        self.assertEqual(request.scheme, 'https')