WDA activities

Since 1998 in Canberra, the Wattle Day Association (WDA) has celebrated and promoted National Wattle Day by:

  • organising local school children to present a basket of wattle to the Governor-General of Australia for National Wattle Day (since 1999). Children also made presentations of wattle to the Prime Minister, Chief Minister of the A.C.T. and other parliamentarians and dignitaries
  • handing out sprigs of wattle to our new citizens at Australian citizenship ceremonies at the Albert Hall and before then the ACT Legislative Assembly (since1999).
  • handing out sprigs of wattle to members of the Federal Parliament, and at churches, shopping malls, horse race meetings and the National Arboretum Canberra.
  •  organising forums in collaboration with the National Museum of Australia to discuss current controversial issues (since 2004)
  • organising picnics (at the Australian National Botanic Gardens and the Canberra Yacht Club)
  • collaborating with the Australian National Botanic Gardens to organise outdoor radio broadcasts with the ABC Gardening Show (2001) and talks about the symbolism, social history, botany, ecology and traditional and industrial uses of wattle (2004, 2005, 2011, 2014)
  • joining in and leading Wattle Walks
  • organising neighbourhood welcoming parties for National Wattle Day
  • organising Wattle Day dinners (since 2000) on 1 September
  • giving newspaper and radio interviews on National Wattle Day
  • writing articles about National Wattle Day, wattles and the Wattle Day Association for local newspapers and interest group newsletters
  • answering requests for information or promotional materials from around Australia
  • updating its website to include and promote links with the National Wattle Day celebrations of others groups and associations. Let us know what they are!
  • designing and making wattle day badges since 2010 to raise funds ($17,000) for the volunteers of the ACT Rural Fire Service. In partnership, the WDA helped raise $6,000 in 2010 and $7,000 in 2011 and $4,000 in 2012.
  • collaborating with the National Capital Authority, city councils and national institutions to light up on landmarks, bridges, buildings, fountains and sculptures in cities around Australia for National Wattle Day (1 September) since 2020.

Suzette Searle
January 2024