God Bless the Queensland

God Bless the Queensland

National anthem of Queensland
Lyrics	Mark Cromwell, 2024
Music	C. Van Roland Edwards "In Plenty and in Time of Need", 1966
Adopted	December 2, 2021 (Music) May 26, 2024 (Lyrics)
Preceded by	Het Wilhelmus
Audio sample
Instrumental version file help

God Bless the Queensland is the current national anthem of the Commonwealth of Queensland. It was adopted and proclaimed on the occasion of the first anniversary of the independence of Queensland.

History

Early years of independence

Since the Crown Dependencies period, Queensland (then colloquially know as Bridgetown) has the national and royal anthem of the United Kingdom "God save the Queen" as its own official anthem. Upon it proclamation of independence in 2015, Queensland remain its anthem unchanged. But later that year, on December 26, the government has passed a resolution on holding a referendum for new national anthem. Following the resolution, two tunes were present as options: one is the national anthem of Malta "L-Innu Malti", and another one the national anthem of Ireland. "Amrhán na bhFiann".

In the final results, the tune of "L-Innu Malti" succeeded public majorities, making it to became the new official tune for the national anthem. The government appointed the new anthem on January 3, 2016, which marks the one-year anniversary of the independence day

Het Wilhelmus

On March 28, 2021, the parliament enacted revised edition of the National and Royal Anthem Act of 0721, which allowed transition for the tune of the national anthem. Per the act, the tune for "Het Wilhelmus", which is in use as the national anthem of the Netherlands, would officially replaced L-Innu Malti as a tune for the anthem.

In Plenty and in Time of Need

Later in the late same year, December 2, 2021, the parliament enacted the second revised edition of the National and Royal Anthem Act 0721, replace the official tune of the anthem. The 9-month-long use "Het Wilhelmus" was replaced with the tune of "In Plenty and In Time of Need", which also currently in use by the Barbados as the national anthem. The tune of "In Plenty and in Time of Need" has been using as the current tune for the national anthem of Queensland ever since.

Lyrics Arrangement

Over the period, major public opinions on the lyrics for national anthem were uncertain. When Raymond Miller has been becoming the Secretary of Defense of Queensland in March 2024, he proposed an idea for the national anthem lyrics to the Prime Minister Paul Gordon and his cabinet, which, accepted the idea. The lyrics has composed by Mark Cromwell, per request of Raymond Miller as his own personal relative. Cromwell has finished the lyrics on February 14, 2024. There was no appeal of further editing, as such, his proposals for the national anthem lyrics was later presented to the House of the Parliament as a bill for National Anthem Act of 1024. The bill has passed the House and was recieved the Royal Assent on May 26, which officially approved an official status for the lyrics.

Lyrics

Cromwell composed two versions of the National Anthem lyrics, one is in Thai and other in English, however, the National Anthem Act of 1024 only acknowledged the English version as a standard official lyrics. It is important to note that the two sets of lyrics are not literally a translation of each other.

English lyrics

Beneath thy embrace of our lord,
Since time's first dawn did shine,
Our land shall thrive forevermore,
As people's pride divine.

The Sacred Lotus lights our path,
As does the Southern Star,
Thus, let us raise our banners high,
And let it wide and far.

Amidst the haze, thou hast prevailed,
With God right by our side,
Our valiant men, together sailed,
To build this fair land bright,

Let every stage on history's page,
Where we engage our hand,
Rings forever this noble phrase,
“God Guardians of Queensland”!

Thai lyrics

ใต้อบอุ่นไอใยรักพระเจ้า
แต่กาลเนิ่นเนานานมา
แดนเราหยัดยืนคงคู่นภา
เป็นขวัญประชายินดี

อุบลบุปผาพาเราก้าวไป
ดาวใต้สว่างนำทาง
ผืนธงแห่งชัยเด่นเห็นกระจ่าง
แผ่ไกลกว้างทั่วโลกา

ผ่านหมอกมืดมนผ่านพ้นล่วงไป
สรวงไซร้อวยชัยให้เรา
ปวงชนหาญกล้าร่วมน้อมพร้อมใจ
สร้างแดนให้รุ่งเรืองเนา

ในหน้าจารึกแห่งประวัติศาสตร์
ซึ่งชนชาติเราสร้างมา
จงกึกก้องไกลไปทั่วเถิดว่า
“พระเจ้าคุ้มครองควีนส์แลนด์”!

IPA transcription

[tâj ʔòp ʔùn ʔaj jaj rák pʰráʔ tɕâw]
[tɛ̀ː kaːn nɤ̂ːn naw naːn maː]
[dɛːn raw jàt jɯːn kʰoŋ kʰûːn pʰaː]
[pen kʰwǎn pràʔ tɕʰaː jin diː]

[ʔùʔ bon bùp pʰǎː pʰaː raw kâːw paj]
[daːw tâj sà wâːŋ nam tʰaːŋ]
[pʰɯ̌ːn tʰoŋ hɛ̀ŋ tɕʰaj dèn hěn kràʔ tɕàːŋ]
[pʰɛ̀ː klaj kwâːŋ tʰûːa loː kaː]

[pʰàːn mɔ̀ːk mɯ̂ːt mon pʰàːn pʰón lûːaŋ paj]
[sɔ̌ːn woŋ saj rɔ́ː wá já tɕʰaj hâj raw]
[puːaŋ tɕʰon hǎːn klâː rûːam nɔ́ːm pʰrɔ́ːm tɕaj]
[sà ráːŋ dɛːn hâj rûŋ rɯːaŋ naw]

[naj nâː tɕaː rɯ́k hɛ̀ŋ pràʔ wát sàːt]
[sɯ̂ŋ tɕʰon tɕʰaː tìʔ raw sà ráːŋ maː]
[tɕoŋ kɯ̀k kɔ̂ːŋ klaj paj tʰûːa tʰɤ̀ːt wâː]
[pʰráʔ tɕâw kʰúm kʰrɔːŋ kʰwiːn lɛːn]

Usage

The National Anthem usually sung during official events. It has been functioning as the Royal Anthem and Royal or Regal Salute as well.

The anthem was also played before and after the Supreme Head's televised address to the nation via Queenslandian Broadcasting.