Frank Nicklin
Nicklin enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1916 and served with distinction during the First World War, where he was promoted to corporal and was awarded the Military Medal.[1] On his return to Queensland he bought a small pineapple farm at Palmwoods, 100 kilometres north of Brisbane, through a soldier-settler scheme.In 1942 Labor abolished full preferential voting in favour of first-past-the-post, meaning that the Country Party and UAP could no longer rely on each other's preferences in seats that they both contested.He acknowledged to a 1955 conference of leading Country Party figures that their chances of ever being seated to the right of the speaker were slim, but he continued as opposition leader anyway.Gair refused, and Nicklin backed him, arguing that the QCE was dominated by unaccountable left-wing trade union leaders with communist sympathies.[5] On 24 April Gair was expelled from the ALP, and he and his supporters—including all of the cabinet except Deputy Premier Jack Duggan-formed the Queensland Labor Party (QLP).Shortly after 10:30 pm that night, Treasurer Ted Walsh moved that supply be granted to the Gair QLP government.Largely on the strength of QLP preferences, the Coalition scored a healthy four-seat swing in the 1960 state election—the first time since 1912 that a non-Labor government had been reelected.[1] The parties had some disputes over seat allocation in the mid-1960s, and Morris was not always an easy man to work with, but on the whole the Nicklin Government saw a period of remarkably cordial relations between the Nationals and Liberals, especially compared with the strife of later years.In general, Nicklin saw little reason to lose electoral capital by passing tough industrial relations laws during times of prosperity.He treated the public service union with care, restoring the privilege of a half-day's leave to visit the annual exhibition.The Nicklin Government, especially through effective Treasurers such as Tom Hiley, was good at attracting foreign customers for Queensland's minerals and other produce.Nicklin was not widely known when he became Premier, and while he was too modest a man to indulge in self-aggrandising publicity he was skilled enough as a politician to benefit from the way in which his reputation for decency stuck with him.Neither authoritarian nor populist in temperament, he was willing to share the power for which he had been forced to wait many years, and he was prepared to defer to those whom he knew to possess greater knowledge or talent than he.He was lucky to have been in office during a time of stability and prosperity, and it is true that his administration benefited from the parlous state of the ALP after Gair's downfall.
The HonourablePremier of QueenslandElizabeth IISir John LavarackSir Henry Abel SmithSir Alan MansfieldKenneth MorrisAlan MunroGordon ChalkVince GairJack PizzeyLeader of the Opposition in QueenslandTed MaherLes WoodLegislative AssemblyLandsboroughMike AhernMurrumbaRichard WarrenDavid NicholsonMurwillumbahColony of New South WalesNambour, QueenslandCountry PartyMurwillumbah Public SchoolHighfield CollegeArmy OfficerPoliticianAustralian ArmyLieutenant Colonel49th BattalionVolunteer Defence CorpsFirst World WarSecond World WarMilitary MedalLabor PartyNew South WalesAustralian Imperial ForcecorporalA. E. MooreWilliam Forgan SmithUnited Australia Party'sCountry-National OrganisationQueensland People's PartyLiberalscommunismJack DugganQueensland Labor PartyDemocratic Labor PartyArthur FaddenChief Justice of QueenslandAlan MansfieldJohn LavarackTed Walshsupplyensuing election on 3 August 1957Hanlon'sthe 1960 state electiondisputeMoogerah DamTom Hileystate electorate of NicklinNicklin WaySunshine CoastAustralian Dictionary of BiographyAustralian National UniversityParliament of QueenslandWarwick Daily NewsGreen, AntonyABC NewsState Library of QueenslandLeader of the Opposition of QueenslandMember for MurrumbaMember for LandsboroughPremiers of QueenslandHerbertMacalisterMackenzieLilleyPalmerDouglasMcIlwraithGriffithMoreheadNelsonByrnesDicksonDawsonMorganKidstonDenhamTheodoreGilliesMcCormackF. CooperHanlonPizzeyBjelke-PetersenR. CooperBorbidgeBeattieNewmanPalaszczukCrisafulliNational PartyQueenslandVowlesCooperSpringborgSeeney