O True Romance, whose splendour gleams Across the shadowy realm of dreams, Whose starry wings can touch with light The dull grey paths, the common themes: Hast thou not thrilled with sovereign might Our story, until Duty's name Is one with Fame! Queen of the North, thy heroes sleep On sun-burnt plain and rocky steep. Their work is done: their high emprise Hath crowned thee, and the great stars keep The secrets of their histories. We reap the harvest they have sown Who died unknown. The seed they sowed with weary hands Now bursts in bloom through all thy lands; Dark hills their glittering secrets yield; And for the camps of wand'ring bands-- The snowy flock, the fertile field. Back, ever back new conquests press The wilderness. Below thy coast line's rugged height Wide canefields glisten in the light, And towns arise on hill and lea, And one fair city where the bright Broad winding river sweeps to sea. Ah! could the hearts that cleared the way Be here to-day! A handful: yet they took their stand Lost in the silence of the land. They went their lonely ways unknown And left their bones upon the sand. E'en though we call this land our own 'Tis but a handful holds it still For good or ill. What though thy sons be strong and tall, Fearless of mood at danger's call; And these, thy daughters, fair of face, With hearts to dare whate'er befall-- Tall goddesses and queens of grace-- Fill up thy frontiers: man the gate Before too late. Sit thou no more inert of fame, But let the wide world hear thy name. See where thy realms spread line on line-- Thy empty realms that cry in shame For hands to make them doubly thine! Fill up thy frontiers: man the gate Before too late! Prepare, ere falls the hour of Fate When death-shells rain their iron hate, And all in vain thy blood is poured-- For dark aslant the Northern Gate I see the Shadow of the Sword: I hear the storm-clouds break in wrath-- Queen of the North! [Illustration] PREMIERS OF QUEENSLAND. (1) SIR R. G. W. HERBERT: Dec. 1859--Feb. 1866; July 1866--Aug. 1866. (2) HON. ARTHUR MACALISTER: Feb. 1866--July 1866; Aug. 1866--Aug. 1867; Jan. 1874--June 1876. (3) SIR R. R. MACKENZIE: Aug. 1867--Nov. 1868. (4) SIR CHARLES LILLEY: Nov. 1868--May 1870. (5) SIR A. H. PALMER: May 1870--Jan. 1874. (6) HON. GEORGE THORN: June 1876--Mar. 1877. (7) HON. JOHN DOUGLAS: Mar. 1877--Jan. 1879. (8) SIR THOMAS MCILWRAITH: Jan. 1879--Nov. 1883; June 1888--Nov. 1888; Mar. 1893--Oct. 1893. (9) SIR S. W. GRIFFITH: Nov. 1883--June 1888; Aug. 1890--Mar. 1893. (10) HON. D. B. MOREHEAD: Nov. 1888--Aug. 1890. (11) SIR H. M. NELSON: Oct. 1893--April 1898. (12) HON. T. J. BYRNES: April 1898--Sept. 1898.