Wattle Day – First Day of Spring.

Today, the 1st of September, marks the official beginning of Spring in the southern hemisphere, and wattles are starting to flower in the bush and in gardens around the country.

Wattles feature prominently in Australian ceremonies, literature, poetry, art and song from the 1830s to the early 1900s.

But until the early 1980s, three sets of colours were unofficially associated with Australia.

1. Red, white and blue formed the colours of the Australian flag.
2. Blue and gold were Australia’s heraldic colours, seen in the wreath on the Commonwealth Coat of Arms granted by royal warrant in 1912, whilst also being chosen as the colours of the ribbon of the Order of Australia in 1975.
3. Green and gold represented Australia in many ways – the green symbolising the colours of the Australia bush, with gold symbolising wattle, grain harvests, sheep’s wool, mineral wealth, beaches and sunshine.

The colours of green and gold have also been informally associated with Australian sporting teams since the late 1800s, but were never formally adopted as its “national sporting” colours.

However, on 19 April 1984, Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen officially proclaimed Australia’s national colours as green and gold.

The gold most closely resembled the shades of Australia’s national floral emblem, the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha).

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