Then in April of the latter year, the new federal leader of the
Country PartyArthur Fadden, MP for the Queensland
Division of Darling Downs, sought to merge the Country and United Australia parties into a single force. Only in Queensland did this yield much success with the two parliamentary parties forming the Country-National Organisation.[2] Former Country MP
Frank Nicklin became the new leader of the party.[3] However the merger was resisted both by some Country Party MLAs and by the extra-parliamentary organisation, with the western division of the
Queensland Country Party continuing to operate as a separate body. Former federal MP
James Hunter worked hard for demerger, an aim achieved by 1944.[4] A new Country Party constitution allowed co-operation but forbade merger with other parties.[5] Nicklin continued as the head of the separate Country Party which co-operated with the
Queensland People's Party, formed by
John Beals Chandler out of the UAP remnants, which would later become the
Liberal Party of Australia (Queensland Division) in 1949.[6][7]
^Sometimes called the Country-National Party in later sources, e.g. Cilento, Sir Raphael (1959). Triumph in the Tropics: An Historical Sketch of Queensland. Smith & Paterson. p. 417., but contemporary sources show the body used "Organisation".
References
^Hughes, Colin A. (1980). The Government of Queensland. University of Queensland Press. p. 17.
ISBN978-0702215155.