Australia! Australia! so fair to behold
While the blue sky is arching above;
The stranger should never have need to be told,
That the Wattle-bloom means that her heart is of gold,
And the Waratah red blood of love
The Prime Minister suggests that Australians wear a sprig of wattle and plant wattle seeds on Sunday. “As a simple unifying tribute could I encourage the wearing of a piece of wattle during the day and also where possible the planting of wattle seeds as a quiet personal gesture of remembrance and reflection.” (The text of his statement is at pm.)
Victorian Liberal backbencher Greg Hunt had the idea, telling Parliament yesterday: “Australians are looking for a symbol. They are seeking to share their collective pain by making a collective gesture. Can I gently suggest a wattle tribute, the wearing of a sprig of wattle, or even a yellow ribbon to symbolise the wattle, over the heart. Communities, families and individuals could plant wattle trees as a sign of renewal and as a symbol of Australia.”
After this week’s webdiarists’ discussion of an appropriate national symbol of unity in grief, I think John Howard’s suggestion is perfect. There is a problem. Because of the drought, Sydney’s wattles stopped flowering early, although some are still in flower in the Blue Mountains, where it is cooler. Australians who wish to wear wattle may have to think laterally. Any ideas? Perhaps people could wear waratah or kangaroo paw instead – they are plentiful now.
A spokeswoman for the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney said today that “even though it is nearing the end of the wattle season, there may still be very very small amounts of wattle flowering in a few areas of western New South Wales”.
“Otherwise, wattle seeds can easily be planted and are readily available from most nurseries and even the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Shop. Wattle seeds, before planting, should be very gently rubbed with sandpaper or soaked well in boiling water.
“There are many different varieties of wattle – in fact, there is one to suit most soils, so readers should check with their nursery for the best variety for their garden.
“The wattle depicted on the Australian coat of arms is Acacia pycnantha or Golden Wattle. It generally grows well in NSW and prefers a well-drained, sunny position with ample watering. It is also frost hardy. Check for the best variety to suit your garden on the Australian Botanic Gardens website anbg.”
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The wattle is embedded in our history and culture. Two wattle poems by Henry Lawson, “the people’s poet”, are published below. You can read more of his poetry at ozemail, and more about him at acn.
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The history of Wattle Day is set out in farrer:
“On September 20, 1889 William Sowden, later to be knighted, an Adelaide journalist and Vice President of the Australian Natives Association in South Australia suggested the formation of a Wattle Blossom League. Its aims, set down in 1890, were to “promote a national patriotic sentiment among the woman of Australia”. One way of doing this was to wear sprigs of wattle on all official occasions. After an enthusiastic start the group folded. However, their presence inspired the formation of a Wattle Club in Melbourne. During the 1890s parties were led into the country on September 1 each year to view the wattles.
“The concept of Wattle Day grew stronger and spread to NSW where the Director of the Botanic Gardens, J H Maiden called a public meeting on August 20, 1909 with the aim of forming a Wattle Day League. As a result of this meeting the first Wattle day was held on September 1, 1910 in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. On that day the Adelaide committee sent sprigs of Acacia pycnantha to the Governor and other notables in Adelaide. It was this wattle that become accepted as the official floral emblem.”
“Celebration of Wattle Day reached its height during World War 1. The day was used to raise funds for the war effort and many trees were denuded in order to supply the many sprigs of wattle sold on that day. Boxes of wattle were sent to soldiers in hospitals overseas and it become a custom to enclose a sprig of wattle with each letter to remind our soldiers of home…”
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On the day of the first Wattle Day celebration in 1910, the Sydney Morning Herald wrote: “Let the wattle henceforth be a sacred charge to every Australian.”
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On September 1, 1988, Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen proclaimed Acacia pycnantha – the Golden Wattle – Australia’s national floral emblem.
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In August 1999, Governor-General Sir William Deane stood in Switzerland’s Saxeten River Gorge with the families and friends of the Australians who died there in a canyoning expedition and tossed 14 sprigs of wattle into the waters. He had collected them from the gardens of Government House in Canberra.
“Somehow, we felt that was bringing a little of Australia to [the victims],” he said. “It was also, in a symbolic way, helping to bring them home to our country. That is not to suggest that their spirit and their memory will not live forever, here in Switzerland, at the place where they died. Rather, it is to suggest that a little part of Switzerland has become, and will always be, to some extent, part of Australia.”
“It is still winter at home. But the golden wattles are coming into bloom. Just as these young men and women were in the flower of their youth. And when we are back in Australia we will remember how the flowers and perfume and the pollen of their, and our, homeland was carried down the river where they died to Lake Brienz in this beautiful country on the far side of the world. May they all rest with God.”
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Waratah and Wattle
Henry Lawson, 1905
Though poor and in trouble I wander alone,
With a rebel cockade in my hat;
Though friends may desert me, and kindred disown,
My country will never do that!
You may sing of the Shamrock, the Thistle, and Rose,
Or the three in a bunch if you will;
But I know of a country that gathered all those,
And I love the great land where the Waratah grows,
And the Wattle bough blooms on the hill.
Australia! Australia! so fair to behold
While the blue sky is arching above;
The stranger should never have need to be told,
That the Wattle-bloom means that her heart is of gold,
And the Waratah red blood of love.
Australia! Australia! most beautiful name,
Most kindly and bountiful land;
I would die every death that might save her from shame,
If a black cloud should rise on the strand;
But whatever the quarrel, whoever her foes,
Let them come! Let them come when they will!
Though the struggle be grim, ’tis Australia that knows,
That her children shall fight while the Waratah grows,
And the Wattle blooms out on the hill.
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Freedom on the Wallaby
by Henry Lawson, 1891, during the great Shearer’s Strike of 1891 which led to the formation of the ALP under the tree of knowledge in Barcaldine
Australia’s a big country
An’ Freedom’s humping bluey,
An’ Freedom’s on the wallaby
Oh! don’t you hear ‘er cooey?
She’s just begun to boomerang,
She’ll knock the tyrants silly,
She’s goin’ to light another fire
And boil another billy.
Our fathers toiled for bitter bread
While loafers thrived beside ’em,
But food to eat and clothes to wear,
Their native land denied ’em.
An’ so they left their native land
In spite of their devotion,
An’ so they came, or if they stole,
Were sent across the ocean.
Then Freedom couldn’t stand the glare
O’ Royalty’s regalia,
She left the loafers where they were,
An’ came out to Australia.
But now across the mighty main
The chains have come ter bind her
She little thought to see again
The wrongs she left behind her.
Our parents toil’d to make a home
Hard grubbin ’twas an’ clearin’
They wasn’t crowded much with lords
When they was pioneering.
But now that we have made the land
A garden full of promise,
Old Greed must crook ‘is dirty hand
And come ter take it from us.
So we must fly a rebel flag,
As others did before us,
And we must sing a rebel song
And join in rebel chorus.
We’ll make the tyrants feel the sting
O’ those that they would throttle;
They needn’t say the fault is ours
If blood should stain the wattle!