There is no one way to celebrate this happy day – and you are only limited by your imagination.
STARTERS
Ask your local parliamentarian to promote the celebration of Australia’s National Wattle Day (1 September)
Contact your local council to ask if they can light up your local landmarks in green and yellow for the evening of 1 September
Ask your council to celebrate the National Wattle Day
Ask your council to highlight your local wattle for National Wattle Day
Decorate local statues and monuments with wattle
Above: Leven River Bridge Ulverstone Tasmania
Below: Matagarup Bridge courtesy of Mainroads WA
WATTLE WOOD
Display your wattle wood artworks. They may be made from Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) or Mulga (Acacia aneura)
Dust and polish your Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) furniture
GROW YOUR OWN
Collect wattle seed for sowing & planting
COOK
Cook with wattle seed
Create a wattle design on your cupcakes
EAT
wattle seed chocolate
wattle seed ice cream
wattle seed biscuits
wattle seed macarons
savoury dishes made with wattle seed
VISIT
Visit spring festivals (Dalwallinu WA), Hurstbridge (Melbourne Vic.), Cootamundra NSW & Mt Morgan Qld) and markets (Old Bus Depot Markets, Kingston Canberra) with a wattle theme
Visit your local nursery
Visit your State Forest or National Park
Matt at Cool Country Natives 10 Aug 2024
AT SCHOOL
Encourage your local primary school to have a special assembly for National Wattle Day
Do some wattle craft with the kids
DECORATE
A cake with a wattle-theme for morning or afternoon tea with friends and family
Cupcakes with green and or yellow icing
Your classroom with flowering wattle
Your dog’s collar with yellow and green ribbons or fresh wattle when you go for a walk
Your lunch and dinner tables with yellow napkins and vases of fresh or artificial wattle
Your home with wattle-themed cushions
Decorate with wattle-themed cushions
Your shop window with wattle
Your home with wattle in vases
FIND
Find a bird’s nest in a wattle
Find early photos of people celebrating wattle days around Australia from 1910 onwards
Find out how Australian wattles are used around the world today – for land revegetation and for their wood, bark, flowers and seed
Find out how bees use wattle pollen to feed their brood back in the hive
Find out how long wattles can live
Find out the name of the tallest wattle
Find out the names of the different wattles on each of Australia’s five banknotes
Find out the names of wattles that have white, mauve, or red blossoms
Find out the year that wattle was first included on Australia’s Commonwealth Coat of Arms
Find out which medals for Australian honours include wattle in their design
Find out which wattles have foliage you can use to wash your hands – nature’s bush soap.
Find out why wattles are called legumes and how they return nitrogen to the soil
Find sporting clubs that include wattle in the design of their logos
Find wattle songs performed by Australian artists
Find which Australian military badges include wattle in their design
COLLECT
Collect coins with wattle on them
GO
Go for a drive to find the best flowering wattle
Go for a walk to enjoy wattles in flower around your garden, suburb, nearby bush, arboretum, or botanic garden
Get out into nature and draw the wattles in your area
Go to a wattle- themed festival
Go to a wattle-themed market
Greet friends and family with ‘Happy Wattle Day’
Hold your own Collectors Show to display and talk about anything that uses wattle as a design or is made from wattle.
Invite a speaker about some aspect of wattle around 1 September (history, art, botany, landscape regeneration, habitat creation, soil improvement, wood turning & furniture, ecology, human food) to your local club
Go to the beach and a wattle in the sand
CONNECT
Invite your family and friends to a barbecue
Plan a bush tucker lunch for your friends and family
Involve your neighbours in community planting in your neighbourhood
Create a high tea with wattle-themed decorations for your friends
Invite your friends, family and neighbours to a street party
Enjoy a special lunch with the ones you love
Picnic with your family and friends
Raise funds for a community cause through a special wattle day dinner
Put on an Australian play or poetry reading
Paint a wattle shrub or tree
Paint an old shirt the green and gold of the wattle and wear it on National Wattle Day
Paint your nails yellow and green
Photograph a bee or other insect on wattle blossoms
Photograph birds in wattle trees
Photograph the best flowering wattles that you can find
Photograph your dog against flowering wattle
Pick wattle for a vase to decorate your home
MAKE
Make a wreath of wattle for your front door
Make some wattle pom poms using yellow yarn
Make wattle-themed handicrafts for your local handmade market
Make your own National Wattle Day badge
Make your own wattle perfume from the wattle’s floral oils
Finger paint wattles in green and yellow
Make a wattle book mark
Book mark by Lyn Somerville Qld
PLANT
Plant a wattle in your garden or wattles in a grove or revegetate a landscape
Plant a wattle to improve the nitrogen in the soil
Plant wattle trees and shrubs around your school grounds every year
Plant wattles to create a low-allergy garden (because they are insect-pollinated and not wind-pollinated)
POST
Post a photo of your favourite wattle on your social media
Post about what you did to celebrate wattle day when you were at primary school
Pre-treat & sow wattle seed to grow new plants for planting next Autumn
Prune and fertilise the wattles in your garden
Read a story about wattle
Read May Gibb’s Wattle baby stories to your children and grandchildren
Scent your home with fresh wattle in a vase
Send a card with wattle on it to a friend to wish them ‘Happy Wattle Day’
Showcase your collection of wattle memorabilia in your home or at a community meeting
Show-off your wattle tattoo
Sing a wattle song
Subscribe to a wattle interest group online
Suggest a wattle-themed meeting to your local community club (Probus, Rotary, View, Zonta etc.)
Use dry wattle wood for your barbecue
Use wattle wood utensils, kitchenware, chopping boards, trays to prepare and serve on National Wattle Day
Use wattle-decorated cups and saucers and plates for the day
WEAR
Wear a sprig of wattle in your hair
Wear a sprig of wattle in your hat
Wear a sprig of wattle on your lapel
Wear a wattle badge
Wear a wattle brooch
Wear a wattle shirt
Wear a wattle-designed or yellow scarf
Wear Australia’s national colours of green & gold
Wear green and yellow earrings
Wear socks with a wattle design or colours
Wear wattle earrings
Wear yellow or green ribbons in your hair
Wear yellow or green nail polish
Wish your friends and family happy a Happy Wattle Day via your social media