David Nicholson

Sir David Eric Nicholson (26 May 1904 – 13 December 1997) was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He was the longest serving Speaker in the Parliament.

Biography Nicholson was born at Mikimiki, a short-lived sawmilling settlement ten miles north of Masterton, on the north island of New Zealand, the son of John Albert Nicholson and his wife Maria Mary (née Henderson).

After he trained to be an electrical engineer, Nicholson arrived in Queensland and established a radio and refrigeration business in Caboolture. He was later appointed company director of the Kern Corporation and retired from business in 1955.

On 4 August 1934, shortly before arriving in Queensland, Nicholson married Cecile Flloyd Smith (died 1987) and together had two sons and two daughters. He died in December 1997 He went on to represent the electorate for the next 22 years before retiring at the 1972 Queensland state election.

During his time in the parliament he served on several committees and from 1960 until 1972 he was Speaker of the house, the longest term as speaker in the history of the parliament. As Speaker, he would not tolerate any talking in the chamber and would tell the guilty parties if they wanted to continue talking they do it out in the corridors. Nor would he allow a member to read from a prepared speech in the parliament. The only people allowed to read from a speech were ministers when reading a Bill. He would watch carefully when any member was giving a speech to make sure they were not reading.

Another rule Nicholson enforced was repetitious speeches. He listened intently to each debate, making it impossible for speaker after speaker to rise and say the same thing. If there were some attempt at repetition, Sir David would point out that, if the speaker had nothing new to add to the debate, he or she should simply sit down.

He was knighted as a Knight Bachelor in 1972.