Why do we celebrate National Wattle Day?
Australians have celebrated Wattle Day for different reasons over the last century that were linked to patriotism, a reminder of home for those fighting wars overseas and to fundraising for community causes.
Perhaps Dr Rod Panter summed it up best when he wrote in 1997 that:
Wattle and Wattle Day can symbolise virtually anything we want, but they relate generally to Spring, being Australian, the Australian environment, and history. Spring has many positive values such as optimism, bounty and abundance, reliability, colour, and so on.
…Wattle Day…looks forward (to Spring) and can celebrate the nation’s undoubted qualities of optimism, fairness, generosity, informality, democracy and good humour,
Click here to see ‘Australia’s Wattle Day’ by Rod Panter
Symbol of a nation – before and after Federation in 1901
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Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha)
Photo: ©S.D. Searle