Part 4 — QUEEN OF THE NORTH.

Stand forth, O Daughter of the Sun, Of all thy kin the fairest one, It is thine hour of Jubilee. Behold, the work our hands have done Our hearts now offer unto thee. Thy children call thee; O come forth, Queen of the North! Brow-bound with pearls and burnished gold The East hath Queens of royal mould, Sultanas, peerless in their pride, Who rule wide realms of wealth untold, But they wax wan and weary-eyed: Thine eyes, O Northern Queen, are bright With morning light. Fear not thy Youth: It is thy crown— The careless years before Renown Shall load its tines with jewelled deeds And press thy golden circlet down With vaster toils and greater needs. Fear not thy Youth: its splendid power Awaits the hour. Stand forth, O Daughter of the Sun, Whose fires through all thine arteries run, Whose kiss hath touched thy gleaming hair— Come like a goddess, Radiant One, Reign in our hearts who crown thee there, With laughter like thy seas, and eyes Blue as thy skies. Ah, not in vain, O Pioneers, The toil that breaks, the grief that sears, The hands that forced back Nature's bars To prove the blood of ancient years And make a home 'neath alien stars! O Victors over stress and pain 'Twas not in vain! Jungle and plain and pathless wood— Depths of primeval solitude— Gaunt wilderness and mountain stern— Their secrets lay all unsubdued. Life was the price: who dared might learn. Ye read them all, Bold Pioneers, In fifty years. 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!

(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.

(13) Sir J. R. Dickson: Oct. 1898—Dec. 1899.

(14) Hon. A. Dawson: 1st Dec. 1899—7th Dec. 1899.

(15) Hon. R. Philp: Dec. 1899—Sept. 1903: Nov. 1907—Feb. 1908.

(16) Sir A. Morgan: Sept. 1903—Jan. 1906.

(17) Hon. W. Kidston: Jan. 1906—Nov. 1907: Feb. 1908 (still in office).