Wattle Day – First Day of Spring.

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.

Noted naturalist Archibald James Campbell established the Victorian Wattle Club in 1899 and organised excursions each spring in search of wattle.

In the early days after Federation in 1901, arbor days, along with bird and wattle days, became popular in Australian schools.

Later in 1908, Campbell made an impassioned speech promoting wattle as our national floral emblem and momentum grew.

The first celebrations of Wattle Day occurred in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia in 1910 and in Western Australia and Queensland in 1912.

By January 1913, the Commonwealth Coat of Arms was gazetted, with wattle featuring prominently in the design together with the iconic kangaroo and emu.

The rise of nationalism that began with Federation continued into the First World War, reinforced sentiment for home and country through images of wattle.

Wattle was a poignant reminder on postcards and letters send to the Diggers in the trenches.

But the push for a national wattle day petered out after the war ended in 1918 and remained more-or-less dormant throughout the rest of the mid-twentieth century.

However, there was a resurgence of national pride in 1975 when the golden wattle featured in the new Order of Australia medals which replaced the old British Imperial awards.

Green and Gold were adopted as our national colours in 1984 and have been worn proudly by Olympic teams ever since.

During the 1988 Bicentenary celebrations, golden wattle was officially gazetted as Australia’s national floral emblem.

There had been a confusion of dates used beforehand, as each state tried to coincide with local flowering patterns, but finally National Wattle Day was officially declared as the 1st of September by the Australian Governor General in 1992.

But despite all this, a National Day of Celebration for our magnificent wattles has never really taken hold…

Photo: Wattle Day, Sydney, 1935. Source Wikipedia