“To the true Australian the wattle is the emblem of the beauty and brightness of life in their southern land, of the springtime of existence, of the splendour of the nation that is still only in the making, but is yet to be.” Southern Sphere, 1910
“Wattle Day serves as propaganda in a picturesque form for the planting of wattles, and which aims at the cultivation of Australian national sentiment” SMH 1924
William Ogilvie wrote "Sunny country" (1916), which was often recited on Wattle Days:
I dreamed of a sunny country last night, a golden dream
Of wattles down the gully, and of gum trees by the stream;
Of dancing haze and sides of blue, no other land can show
Save this, our sunny country, where the golden wattles grow.
In 1992, Governor-General Bill Hayden declared that "1 September in each year shall be observed as 'National Wattle Day' throughout Australia”.
Above all, Wattle Day is more than an acknowledgement of a unique plant genus of a distinctive appearance. It is a celebration of the unique and distinctive Australian people in their unique and distinctive land.
