Davis Hughes

In May 1958, he was elected leader of the Country Party in place of Michael Bruxner, defeating Charles Cutler by a single vote.

[4] He suffered a "gastric illness" in the lead-up to the 1959 state election and was hospitalised for over three weeks during the campaign, during which time Cutler served as acting leader.

[8] With the election of the Askin government in 1965, Hughes became Minister for Public Works,[3] with responsibility for, among other things, the completion of the Sydney Opera House.

Hughes refused to accept Jørn Utzon's approach to managing the Opera House project and, specifically, the construction of plywood prototypes for its interiors.

Taking on the project, Hall deemed Utzon's seating plan as unsafe, and to improve this he made radical changes to the interior design, a decision for which he would be largely criticised.