From the land beyond the sunset, out beyond the Coral Sea,
There’s a balmy breeze a-blowing, and it seems to call to me
Through the magic of the sunset and the ocean’s briny spray-
‘Come you back, you lonesome wand’rer – back to Queensland, far away!
Back to Queensland far away,
Out beyond the twilight grey,
Where the southern sun is shining, and the warm winds pout and play
Through the mangroves where they sway
On the shores of Moreton Bay,
In the wonderland called Queensland, far away and far away!’
And I see the hills of Queensland, and I see the twinkling towns,
And I see Canopus[1] shining softly on the Darling Downs;
Hear the kookaburras calling where the Queensland rivers flow,
And the dingo’s dreary wailing on the night-wind drifting low.
And the lilies bend and sway
Where the shining waters stray,
As the rosy sunset closes on the golden-gleaming day;
And the soft sea-breezes play;
Blowing in from Moreton Bay,
In the wonderland called Queensland, far away and far away!
And above the crimson waters there’s a black swan sailing high;
There’s a flash of gaudy colour and a parrot screaming by;
There’s a ripple in the river where the barramundi gleams,
And the call me back to Queensland, to her hills and shores and streams!
Where the warm winds pout and play,
And the mangroves swing and sway,
And the Southern Cross is mirrored in the waves of Moreton Bay;
Where the tossing foam and spray
Shimmer ‘neath the Milky Way,
And the great white moon of Queensland climbs her silver sandalled way!
And there’s no place just like Queensland, and there’s no place quite so grand,
In the northland or the southland, any clime or any land;
And I’m looking toward the sunset, and I know each crimson ray
Falls upon the walls of Brisbane and the waves of Moreton Bay.
And the eucalypts that sway
In the twilight seem to say,
‘Come you back you lonesome wand’rer – back to Queensland far away!’
And I’m going back to-day
Out beyond the twilight grey,
To the wonderland called Queensland, far away and far away!
Lydia O'Neil (1924)
[1] The brightest star in the constellation Carina.