StateLibQld 1 210874 Sir Frank Nicklin on the farm, Palmwoods, ca. 1950

Sir Frank Nicklin on the farm, Palmwoods, ca. 1950.
Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin (1895 - 1978) was better known as Sir Frank. He was born at Murwillumbah, New South Wales and as a teenager, moved with his family to Beerwah in Queensland about 1910. He worked on his parents' banana plantation before enlisting in the Australian Army in 1916. He was sent to the Western Front as a member of the 49th Battalion. He was awarded the Military Medal. After the war he returned to Queensland and purchased a pineapple farm at Palmwoods which he turned into a successful farming business. Frank married Georgina Robertson Fleming (died 1960) but they didn't have any children.
In the 1920s Frank was officer bearer with local fruit growing associations, which led him into politics. On 11 June 1932 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly as the Country Party's candidate for the seat of Murrumba. From 1950 he held the seat of Landsborough. At the state elections in 1957, Nicklin was elected premier, as part of a coalition government. While premier, Nicklin held portfolios of chief secretary (1957 - 1963) and State Development (1963 - 1968), He was a serious and determined, yet friendly leader known as 'Honest Frank'. He resigned as premier in January 1968 and retired from parliament the following month, after taking ill. On 22 January 1969 he received his Knighthood from Lord Casey at Government House in Canberra. Sir Frank died at Nambour on 29 January 1978.

Photograph possibly taken at Sir Frank's pineapple plantation at Palmwoods. Sir Frank is on the left.