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). He was educated at Murwillumbah Public School and Highfield College in Turramurra, Sydney. In 1910 the family moved to Beerwah in Queensland, where Nicklin's father took up banana farming. Nicklin enrolled in the army in 1916 served with distinction during World War I, where he was promoted to corporal and was awarded the Military Medal. On his return to Queensland he bought a small pineapple farm at Palmwoods, 100 kilometres north of Brisbane, through a soldier-settler scheme. Nicklin saved wisely and put his farming experience to good use, and his farm succeeded where many others failed. He led many fruit-growers' organisations, and then became involved in Country Party politics. When the Member for the solid Country Party seat of Murrumba retired in 1932, Nicklin became the new candidate for the hybrid urban-regional seat in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. He won the seat, 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. Nicklin was a popular and hardworking local member, and remained popular throughout very difficult times for the Country Party in Queensland. The opposition was fractured and weak, and the Government of William Forgan Smith very secure. Nicklin's preferred area was agriculture, and he made many speeches on the subject. Opposition Leader In 1941 the opposition suffered another severe defeat, with Labor winning 41 seats to the Country Party's 14 and the United Australia Party's four. After the election, the Queensland caucuses of the two non-Labor parties decided to merge as the Country-National Organisation. Opposition leader Ted Maher stood down, and Nicklin was elected to lead the merged party. The merger fell apart in 1944, but Nicklin remained as head of a Country-UAP coalition. Nicklin was leader of the opposition for sixteen years, losing five elections in a row (1944, 1947, 1950, 1953, 1956). In 1942 Labor abolished full preferential voting in favour of first-past-the-post, meaning