Wattle Day is a day of celebration in Australia on the first day of September each year, which is the start of the Australian spring.
National Wattle Day is the time when many Acacia species (commonly called wattles in Australia), are in flower. So, people wear a sprig of the flowers and leaves to celebrate the day.
Although the national floral emblem of Australia is a particular species, named the golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha), any acacia can be worn to celebrate the day.
The day was originally intended to promote patriotism for the new nation of Australia:"Wattle Days emerged to prominence in Australia in the early years of the federated nation. They took on some of the national and civic responsibilities for children that [the more formal] Australia Day could not." - Libby Robin
On 1 December 1838, the first Hobart Town Anniversary Regatta was held in Hobart, Tasmania to celebrate the anniversary of the 17th-century European discovery of the island by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November 1642. It was estimated between 5000 and 6000 people attended. On 10 August 1853 in Launceston, during "Cessation of Transportation Celebrations" the procession marched under a triumphal arch decorated with wattle blossom.
It was suggested that for future regattas, the event should be celebrated by the wearing of a sprig of silver wattle blossom (Acacia dealbata) tied with British Navy blue ribbon. The proposal attracted some ridicule as the silver wattle blooms in August and September and would be unobtainable in November. As a result, the November-flowering black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) was substituted for the regatta. The custom of wearing a sprig of wattle at the regatta persisted until at least 1883.
The theme of wattle in literature, poetry and song took off from the 1860s to the early 1900s. When Adam Lindsay Gordon died in 1870 he was buried "where the wattle blossoms wave" - a quotation from his poem "The sick Stockrider". There were wattle waltzes and you could drink Foster's Wattle beer.
A "Wattle Blossom League" was inaugurated by W. J. Sowden and the South Australian chapter of the Australian Natives' Association in 1890 as a women's branch of the Association. The aim of the Wattle Blossom League was to "encourage Australian literature and music". Members should "at all suitable public assemblies wear a spray of wattle blossom either real or artificial, as a distinctive badge". Another aim of the league was "to promote a national patriotic sentiment among the women of Australia". The last monthly meeting of the Wattle Blossom League was held at Beach's Rooms on 1 June 1893.
The push for the recognition of the nationwide use of wattle as a symbol of the first day of spring was given momentum by the formation in 1899 of the "Wattle Club" in Victoria. It was initiated by Archibald James Campbell, a leading ornithologist and field naturalist with a particular passion for Australian wattles, of which there are more than 1,000 species. For several years the club organised bush outings on the first day in September specifically for the appreciation of wattles in their natural setting. Campbell was an active member of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria. Their 1904 outing went to the You Yangs and in 1906 they went to the Werribee Gorge.
The first suggestion of a dedicated Wattle Day was made by Campbell during a speech in September 1908.
The Wattle Day League was formed on 13 September 1909 at the Elizabeth Street, Sydney headquarters of the Royal Society, with J. H. Maiden, director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens as president.
Its purpose was to present to the various state governments a unified proposal for a national day on which to celebrate the wattle blossom.
In 1910 the League settled on "Wattle Day" as 1 September, and approached Sowden to form a branch of the League in South Australia.
Campbell and A. K. Warner founded a branch in Melbourne.
It was taken up, and there were celebrations in 1910 in three state capital cities: Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, although the Melbourne event was a muted affair due to heavy rain.
The day was significant in being the first organised demonstration on a definite day across a number of states ever witnessed in Australia. On 1 September 1911 Adelaide was described as a city "decked with gold". In 1913, the national Wattle Day League (or Federation) was established to formalise the organisation of events for the celebration of Wattle Day.
Queensland followed in 1913. Sydney celebrated that year by planting 200 wattle trees in Centennial Park.
The golden wattle was incorporated as an accessory in the design of the coat of arms of Australia in 1912.