Tuesday 31 August 2010

Welcome to Wattle Day

Today, as all Australians know, is Wattle Day. Unfortunately my Facebook group, Wattle Day Should Be Australia's National Day, peaked at 16 members last year. Never mind: what better action on Wattle Day than to join.

Wattle Day is our ideal national day - its colours (green and gold) are our colours, and the flower is found in all parts of Australia. As a national day it unites us: OK with indigenous people, and with the non-military. Wattle is our national flower, and the day was proclaimed National Wattle Day in 1992. It falls close to the spring equinox: a natural day to celebrate as the days start to get longer and brighter.

There are also wonderful, colourful Wattle Day accessories of various kinds - or just use wattle itself to accessorise. It can be found all over Australia.

You can check it all out at the Wattle Day Association website, or on The Collectors, on Friday 27 August. You can visit an official Wattle Day site or or a site celebrating the horticultural aspects of the day (and its origins in 1838 in Tasmania), the ubiquitous Wikipedia, the role of wattle as a symbol in our national honours system, and the last word from the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Truly national. And don't forget to sign up for the Facebook group.

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