Frank Nicklin

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Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin (1895-1978) was Premier of Queensland from 1957 to 1968, and the first Country Party Premier since 1932.

Born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales on 6 August 1895, Nicklin was the son of a newspaper proprietor who later moved to the Sunshine Coast hinterland in Queensland. He served with distinction during World War One and was awarded the Military Medal. He was elected Country Party member for Murrumba in the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1932, and became Opposition leader in 1941. He lost the next five elections, but became Premier in the wake of the split in the Labor Party in Queensland in 1957.

His long reign was comparatively uneventful by comparison with that of Vince Gair before it and that of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen after it, but it established Queensland conservatism's sustained electoral success (aided by a divided Australian Labor Party) and saw the first stages of the industrial and tourist development which would continue at a much greater rate during the 1970s. Three future Premiers - Bjelke-Petersen himself, Jack Pizzey, and Sir Gordon Chalk - served in Nicklin's cabinet. Nicklin was a non-smoker and teetotaller, and known for his genial nature and especially for his probity, which earned him the nickname 'Honest Frank.' When he retired in January 1968 he had served as Premier for ten years and five months, then a Queensland record. Nicklin died aged 82 on 29 January 1978.

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