Queensland Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent to form the separate colony of what is now Queensland. Brisbane was appointed as the capital city. On 10 December 1859, a proclamation was read by British author George Bowen, whereby Queensland was formally separated from the state of New South Wales. As a result, Bowen became the first Governor of Queensland. On 22 May 1860 the first Queensland election was held and Robert Herbert, Bowen's private secretary, was appointed as the first Premier of Queensland. Queensland also became the first Australian colony to establish its own parliament rather than spending time as a Crown
National Party of Australia – Queensland the Liberal Party of Australia (Queensland Division) in 1949. A pattern was set in the 1944 state election whereby the Country Party secured fewer votes but more seats than the People's Party; this pattern would continue into the 1970s. Nicklin would continue to lead the party to defeat over five successive elections, but there seemed little prospect of defeating Labour, especially after the introduction of a malapportionment that significantly varied the size of electorates in different zones of the state. In 1957 the Labor Party in Queensland was engulfed in the split that had been growing in the party across