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Davidson, who was recalled after being dropped for the midweek victory over Morton, scored with a first-half penalty. Then, after Sean O'Connor had drawn Queens level, he rescued the three points with a late winner to prove Dundee have the mettle for a promotion bid.
"Bob showed what type of character he is with those goals," said Dundee manager Alex Rae. "No-one at this club spits the dummy out when they aren't in the side and that's the kind of attitude that will help us this season. It's a good start for us but it's the finish to the season that matters and we have to make sure we maintain our form if we want to be challengers."
The wind of change has blown through Dens Park this summer with no fewer than eight new arrivals making their way through the revolving doors at Dundee.
And while it is clearly early days with the new term barely a fortnight old, the signs are good and those wholesale changes look like they will be effective.
Top of the list for the new summer arrivals is Czech star Jan Zemlik, who looks every inch the archetypal target man. A towering figure, he looks the sort to ruffle more than a few feathers in defence.
It was his early influence that saw Dundee have a storming start yesterday as he was pulled back inside the box by Andy Aitken, with referee Steve Conroy wasting no time in pointing to the spot.
Bob Davidson stepped up to coolly dispatch the ball past Jamie McDonald, on loan from Hearts, and Dundee were off and running. Or so it seemed.
For the next quarter of an hour they played a game of target practice with the over-worked McDonald and really should have been cruising over the finishing line well before Conroy's half-time whistle.
On 19 minutes Zemlik's low pass tracked the run of Scott Robertson and the midfielder's low drive was turned wide by McDonald. Five minutes later McDonald was equally as impressive as he got his hands on a Zemlik header after an inch-perfect delivery from the impressive Gavin Swankie.
From the resultant corner kick, the same pairing combined again, but this time Zemlik couldn't quite get his header on target.
McDonald was again the saviour for Queens on 26 minutes as Robertson cut through the visiting defence to drill the ball off the keeper's legs. However, Dundee were made to rue those misses as the visiting side finally discovered that they had enough in the tank to create some chances of their own.
Brian Gilmore almost levelled things on the half-hour mark after his twice-taken free-kick zipped just inches wide of Ludovic Roy's right-hand post.
He didn't have long to wait before celebrating though, as team-mate Sean O'Connor rose above a static Dundee defence to head in Eric Paton's cross.
For Queens it was a classic case of smash and grab, but for Dundee it cruelly exposed their concentration levels in defence and under-lined why they need more than a potent attack to win the First Division this term.
Dobbie missed a glorious chance to put Queens ahead when clean through but failed to hit the target. With Zemlik and Dixon both missing chances in this game which was clearly there for the taking for Dundee. It was a matter of when and not if they would get their breakthrough.
After Zemlik missed another header, Dundee finally got the lead their play so richly deserved. Swankie's cross was initially missed by Zemlik but Davidson was on hand at the back post to fire it in and claim the win for the home side.
Queens can have no complaints although things could have been different if Dobbie had converted his easy chance.