Premiers of Queensland

Date: 1859
Location: Queensland, Australia
Surnames/tags: Queensland Australia government

On 10th December 1859 Letters Patent issued by Queen Victoria were read to an elated audience, proclaiming Queensland to be a new colony, separate from New South Wales. From that day forward, Queenslanders were in charge of their own affairs. Queen Victoria assented to the creation of a new and separate colony to be called Queen’s Land on 6th June 1859, a day that continues to be celebrated as Queensland Day.

Under the conventions of the Westminster system followed in Queensland, the premier's authority is derived from two sources: a majority in the Legislative Assembly, and the premier's role as chair of Cabinet, determining the appointment and roles of ministers. Although ministerial appointments are the prerogative of the Governor of Queensland, the Governor makes these appointments under the advice (read, direction) of the premier.

Immediately following an election for the Legislative Assembly, the governor will call on the leader of the party which commands a majority in the Legislative Assembly, and ask them to commission a government. A re-elected government is resworn, with adjustments to the Cabinet as determined by the premier.

Profiles have been developed for Premiers of Queensland, for reasons of privacy other than those still living.

No.	Photo	Name	Birth-place	Party	Years as Premier	No. years	Notes
1		Robert Herbert	England	Squatter Conserv.	1859-1866; 1866	6yrs 3mths	oversaw development of railways, telegraph and harbours; still youngest premier of any State
2		Arthur Macalister CMG	Scotland	Squatter Conserv.	1866; 1866-67; 1874-76	2yrs 11mths	introduced Education Act 1875 with free but compulsory education for 6-12yo.
3		Robert MacKenzie	Scotland	Squatter Conserv.	1867-1868	15mths	-
4		Charles Lilley	Qld	Liberal	1868-1870	18mths	wrote Education Act with Samuel Griffiths
5		Arthur Palmer	Ireland	Squatter Conserv.	1870-1874	3yrs 8mths	being 7th premiership in 4 years, brought stability; moved to Legislative Council as President for 17 years
6		George Thorn	Ireland	Liberal	1876-1877	9mths	-
7		John Douglas	England	Liberal	1877-1879	1yr 10mths	-
8		Sir Thomas McIlwraith KCMG	Scotland	Conserv.; Minist.	1879-1883; 1888; 1893	5yrs 10mths	inadvertently created first step to unite the colonies in federation movement
9		Sir Samuel Griffith GCMG KC	Wales	Liberal; Minist.	1883-1888; 1890-1893	7yrs 2mths	took a keen interest in external affairs, including the newly annexed Territory of Papua and establishing the Queensland Maritime Defence Force; later the inaugural Chief Justice of Australia
10		Boyd Dunlop Morehead	NSW	Liberal	1888-1890	1yr 9mths	-
11		Sir Hugh Nelson	Scotland	Minist.	1893-1898	4yrs 6mths	best remembered for valuable work as treasurer during the depression following the 1893 financial crisis; became president of Legislative Council
12		Thomas Byrnes	Qld	Minist.	1898	6mths	died in office aged 37 years
13		James Dickson	England	Minist.	1898-1899	14mths	responsible for winning a 'yes' vote in Qld for federation
14		Anderson Dawson	Qld	Labour	1899	6days	first socialist gov't in the world
15		Robert Philp	Scotland	Minist.	1899-1903; 1907-1908	4yrs	transitioned to federation
16		Arthur Morgan	Qld	Liberal	1903-1906	2yrs 4mths	-
17		William Kidston	Scotland	Labour; Liberal	1906-1907; 1908-1911	4yrs 10mths	last person to come back as Premier of Qld after losing position
18		Digby Denham	England	Liberal	1911-1915	3yrs 4mths	early war years; ensured any German threat neutralised
19		Thomas Joseph 'TJ' Ryan	Victoria	Labour	1915-1919	3yrs 4mths	arguably Labor's most-capable leader
20		Edward Theodore	Sth Aust	Labour	1919-1925	5yrs 4mths	abolished the Legislative Council so as to increase power of Legislative Assembly
21		William Gillies	Sth Aust	Labour	1925	8mths	established Main Roads Board (now Department of Transport and Main Roads)
22		William McCormack	Qld	Labour	1925-1929	3yrs 7mths	oversaw the development of Mount Isa
23		Edward Moore	NZ	CPNP	1929-1932	3yrs 7mths	reduced Legislative Assembly from 72 to 62 seats
24		William Forgan Smith	Scotland	Labour	1932-1942	10yrs 3mths	major public works initiated were the Story Bridge, Somerset Dam, Mackay Outer Harbour, Hornibrook Hwy and re-siting the uni to St Lucia; saw start of WW2; quit politics over federal income tax act; then longest-serving premier
25		Frank Cooper	NSW	Labour	1942-1946	3yrs 6mths	elected premier at 70yo during WW2, when Qld was anticipating invasion
26		Edward 'Ned' Hanlon	Qld	Labour	1946-1952	5yrs 10mths	had served in WW1
27		Vincent Gair	Qld	Labour	1952-1957	5yrs 7mths	formed Qld Labour Party (later become the DLP) and was later a Senator
28		George Francis 'Frank' Nicklin MM	NSW	Country	1957-1968	10yrs 5mths	decorated WW1 veteran; then longest-serving premier
29		Jack Pizzey	Qld	Country	1968	7mths	died in office
30		Gordon Chalk	Qld	Liberal	1968	7days	'caretaker' premier whilst Country Party elected new party leader following Pizzey's sudden death
31		Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen	NZ of Tas parents	Country-National	1968-1987	19yrs 4mths	longest-serving premier
32		Michael Ahern	Qld - living	National	1987-1989	15mths	-
33		Russell Cooper	Qld - living	National	1989	3mths	-
34		Wayne Goss	Qld	Labor	1989-1996	6yrs 2mths	presided over implementation of reforms of the Fitzgerald Inquiry into police corruption
35		Robert Borbidge	Victoria - living	National	1996-1998	16mths	-
36		Peter Beattie	NSW - living	Labor	1998-2007	9yrs 3mths	key agenda was to transform Queensland into Australia’s "Smart State" by restructuring the economy, reforming the education system, skilling the workforce and encouraging innovation, research and development
37		Anna Bligh	Qld - living	Labor	2007-2012	4yrs 6mths	-
38		Campbell Newman	ACT - living	LNP	2012-2015	2yrs 11mths	-
39		Annastacia Palaszczuk	Qld - living	Labor	2015-current	-	-

Political parties

Queensland's premiers have been drawn from the following political parties:

• no party: initially, from 1859, political parties did not exist in Queensland. A majority of the early ten premiers were of a conservative persuasion with specific interests, be it squatters, agriculture or industry. Samuel Griffith was seen to be a close ally of the labour movement and introduced a bill to legalise trade unions, declaring that 'the great problem of this age is not how to accumulate wealth but how to secure its more equitable distribution'. However, he later formed an alliance with Thomas McIlwraith, clearly conservative, the so-called "Griffilwraith".
• Continuous Ministry was an informal designation used to describe the grouping in the Queensland parliament that existed from 1890 to 1903, and provided six colonial-era premiers of Queensland. The Ministry was formed from a merging of Samuel Griffith's Liberal faction with Sir Thomas McIlwraith's Conservatives, forming the humorously-titled Griffilwraith.
• Australian Labor Party was formally established in 1892, although a labour member sat in parliament since 1888. Anderson Dawson took the party to power in Queensland in 1899, for six days. Labour governments led Queensland from 1915-1929 and 1932-1956. After 32 years on the 'back-benches', the ALP has governed in Queensland in 1989-1998, 2001-2012 and since 2015. Labour has provided twelve of Queensland's 39 premiers.
• Australian Country Party from 1920 to 1975; Country National Party to 1982; and thence National Party. Whilst the minor of the conservative coalition parties federally and in other States, the National Party was always the dominant of the partners in Queensland, due mostly to Queensland's excellent decentralisation. Six premiers have come from the Country Party and its successors, providing 25 years of government.
• Queensland Labor Party was formed in 1957 as a breakaway group from the governing Labor Party after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair. Gair was defeated at the 1960 election. In 1962 the party became the Queensland section of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). The party continued to hold seats in the Queensland state parliament until 1972, then suffered a collapse in its vote and wound itself up in 1978.
• Country and Progressive National Party was a short-lived conservative political in Queensland, formed in 1925 to combine the state's conservative forces into a single party. It held office between 1929 and 1932 under the leadership of Arthur Edward Moore. Following repeated election defeat it split into separate rural and urban wings in 1936.
• Liberal Party whilst liberal partied around the world range from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left, in Australia they have been aligned with conservatism. The Liberal Party of Australia was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Australia Party (UAP). It has provided one premier to Queensland, Gordon Chalk who, as party leader and deputy premier assumed office upon the death of premier Jack Pizzey in 1968. Seven days later he returned to deputy premier when the County Party appointed Joh Bjelke-Petersen as replacement party leader and, therefore, premier.
• Liberal National Party was formed in 2008 through the merger, in Queensland alone, of the Liberal and National parties. To date, its sole premier has been Campbell Newman for a month short of three years.