Wattle Day was first celebrated on 1 September 1910 in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, but wattle wasn’t officially declared as Australia’s national floral emblem until 1988. In New South Wales, Wattle Day had been celebrated on 1 August. From 1992, 1 September was the agreed Wattle Day for all states and territories, and there are moves afoot to revive Wattle Day as a national celebration. There is something heartening about spotting the bright blaze of wattle in bloom at any time of year.
The following poem was written by Miss Veronica Mason and was published in The Mercury (Hobart newspaper) on 11 September 1912.
A Wattle Poem
The bush was grey
A week to-day
(Olive-green and brown and grey);
But now the spring has come this way,
With blossoms for the wattle.
It seems to be
A fairy tree;It dances to a melody,
And sings a little song to me
(The graceful, swaying wattle).
See how it weaves
Its feathery sheaves!
Before the wind a maze it weaves,
A misty whirl of powdery leaves –
(The dainty, curtseying wattle)!
Its boughs uplift
An elfin gift;
A spray of yellow, downy drift,
Through which the sunbeams shower and sift
Their gold-dust o’er the wattle.
The bush was grey
A week to-day
(Olive-green and brown and grey);
But now its sunny all the way,
For, oh! the spring has come to stay,
With blossom for the wattle!
[Photo: winter wattle in bloom near an old mineshaft at Grenfell, NSW]
jml297 
Leave a reply to Carol Flanagan Cancel reply