Political leadership and Queensland nationalism

Denis Murphy had a strong political and historical interest in biography and the personal qualities involved in political leadership. Much of his best history was written during the 1970s-a time when Queensland was seen by many as being 'different' from the rest of Australia. Murphy remained sceptical of this orthodoxy and argued in 1978 that, from an historical perspective, 'the image that a state has in the national picture is not something that is static. It will change and often be related to the calibre of the state's political leaders'. Queensland in the 1980s seemed to prove him wrong as Australia's first and only majority National Party government was elected in 1983 (the year Murphy entered Parliament as the member for Stafford) and surprisingly re-elected in 1986. Premier Bjelke-Petersen (1968-87), as the personal embodiment of all that was 'different' about Queensland, reigned supreme and appeared invincible, yet he was deposed by his own party in 1988 and the Labor electoral landslide which followed in 1989 shattered more than a few myths about Queensland's inherent conservatism. Queensland's status as Australia's different state was usurped by Victoria in the 1990s, where the iconic leadership of Jeffrey Kennett wrought a revolution in the finances and governance of the State. [Introduction]