Frank Nicklin

Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin, (6 August 1895 – 29 January 1978) was an Australian politician. He was the Premier of Queensland from 1957 to 1968, the first non-Labor Party premier since 1932.

Early life and career Nicklin was born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales on 6 August 1895, the son of newspaper proprietor George Francis Nicklin and his New Zealand-born wife, Edith Catherine ( Bond). although the Country and Progressive National Party Government of A. E. Moore was heavily defeated. Nicklin, therefore, entered Parliament as an opposition backbencher. He transferred to the newly created Sunshine Coast seat of Landsborough in 1950. but Nicklin remained as head of a Country-UAP coalition.

Despite these setbacks, Nicklin was never challenged for the leadership. Many coalition members appeared to have despaired of ever defeating Labor, and were content to simply represent their constituencies. Accordingly, Nicklin was left to handle most of the business of opposition. 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. After the 1956 election, in which he was severely defeated by Labor's Vince Gair, Nicklin considered retiring from politics. However, his fortunes would soon change.

The late 1950s saw increasing fear of communism in Australia, and increasing tensions between the Parliamentary Labor Party and the party's union-dominated Central Executive (QCE) in Queensland. These tensions boiled over in 1957, when the QCE pushed the Government to introduce three weeks' paid leave for public servants. Gair refused, and Nicklin backed him, arguing that the QCE was dominated by unaccountable left-wing trade union leaders with communist sympathies.

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). This body would later join the anti-communist Democratic Labor Party (DLP) which had arisen out of a split in the ALP in Victoria. Reduced to a minority government, Gair negotiated with Nicklin for support from the Country Party in Parliament. However, Nicklin broke off the talks at the suggestion of federal Country Party leader Arthur Fadden (himself a Queenslander), who believed that given the ructions in Labor, Nicklin had a good chance to become Premier himself.

Premiership

In the ensuing election on 3 August 1957, every QLP MP faced an ALP challenger, while every ALP MP faced a QLP challenger. This created dozens of three-cornered contests.

Taking advantage of the split in the Labor vote, Nicklin's Country-Liberal coalition won a decisive victory with 42 seats – the first non-Labor victory since 1932. The two Labor factions won only 31 seats between them.