Australia’s national colours of green and gold – 1984
In 1984 Australia’s national colours were proclaimed to be green and gold.
This settled a long dispute as to whether the national colours should be red, white and blue, or green or blue together with gold.
The precise green and yellow references chosen are:
- Green: PANTONE®348C
- Gold: PANTONE®116C
Official Proclamation
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. G 17 , Tuesday, 8 May 1984
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. S 142, Thursday, 19 April 1984
PROCLAMATION
By His Excellency the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia
N.M.STEPHEN
Governor-General
I, SIR N I N I A N M A R T I N S T E P H E N , Governor-General of
the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice o f t h e
Federal Executive Council, hereby declare
…: and
(e) that green and gold (Pantone Matching System
numbers 116C and 348C as used for printing on paper)
shall be the national colours of Australia for use on all
occasions on which such colours are customarily used.
(L.S.) G I V E N under my Hand and the Great Seal of Australia on 19 April 1984.
By His Excellency’s Command,
M. J. Y O U N G
Special Minister of State
Australia’s national floral emblem – 1988
The proclamation of Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha as the national floral emblem, was made on the 1 September 1988 in Australia’s Bicentennial year.
The Gazettal is dated 1 September 1988, signed by the Governor General, Sir Ninian Stephen, on 19 August 1988.
Official Proclamation
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. S 259 , Thursday , 1 September 1988
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. S 259 Thursday 1 September 1988
PROCLAMATION
By His Excellency the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia
N.M.STEPHEN
Governor-General
I, SIR NINIAN MARTIN STEPHEN, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby declare that the flowers of Acacia pycnantha, the plant known as Golden Wattle, however depicted, shall be the national floral emblem of Australia.
(L.S.) GIVEN under my hand and the Great Seal of Australia on 19 August 1988
By His Excellency’s Command,
ROBERT RAY
Minister of State for Home Affairs
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
A wattle was chosen in part, because advocates such as school teacher, Maria Hitchcock, The Australian Native Plants Society and radio broadcaster Ian McNamara had lobbied state and federal government and raised public support with information that highlighted the rich history of wattle as an informal symbol of Australia from colonial times and its meaning for all Australians. For example in as early as 1891 the Australian Natives’ Association accepted ‘The wattle, in all its varieties’ as the Australian floral emblem, the Golden Wattle naturally gaining preeminence because of its universality’.
[‘Universality’ may have meant Acacia pycnantha represented most of Australia’s acacias found everywhere in Australia, because it has modified leaf stems (phyllodes) as an adaptation to Australia’s relatively hot, dry climate. Those well-known wattles with true leaves (that look a bit like ferns) such as the well-known wattle trees Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata) and and Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii) were only naturally growing in south-east Australia or in the case of another group small shrubs, in western Australia). The economic importance of Acacia pycnantha tannin-rich bark (for the important leather industry in colonial Australia), and its ‘uniquely spectacular’ blossom were also reasons for its choice back in 1891.
Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha)
Photo: ©S.D. Searle
National Wattle Day – 1992
Continuing confusion over the actual date of Wattle Day required a long-awaited agreement among the Commonwealth and States to unify Australia’s Wattle Day as the First Day of Spring (1st September) in every State and Territory. This took place in 1992 at the urging of Maria Hitchcock, Ian McNamara, presenter and Executive Producer of ABC’s radio program ‘Australia All Over’, and petitions signed by members of the Society for Growing Australian Plants’.
Official Proclamation
1 September has officially been National Wattle Day since 1992
(Before then, Australians in different States and Territories celebrated wattle day on different days between July and September.)
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. S 240, Monday, 24 August 1992
PROCLAMATION of National Wattle Day
Commonwealth of Australia
By His Excellency the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia
BILL HAYDEN
Governor-General
I, WILLIAM GEORGE HAYDEN, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, declare that 1 September in each year shall be observed as “National Wattle Day” throughout Australia and in the external Territories of Australia.
(L.S.) GIVEN under my Hand and the Great Seal of Australia on 23 June 1992
By His Excellency’s Command,
Nick Bolkus
Minister of State for Home Affairs
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) – Australia’s national floral emblem – is part of the crest for the Governor-General of Australia
With the Centenary of Federation in 2001, Australians once again experienced strong feelings of nationhood. The Wattle Day Association is promoting a new Wattle Day oriented towards the future, encompassing positive virtues in the celebration of Australia and all Australians. While appreciating the history of the Day, we can adapt its rich symbolism to the great issues Australia faces as a nation still seeking to find its place in the world and as a community-minded people within a global economy.