[Editor: This letter from Agnes L. Kettlewell (nee Storrie), regarding the Wattle Day League, was published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 August 1914 (during World War One).]
A Wattle Badge.
To the Editor of the Herald.
Sir, — It may interest your readers to know that the Wattle Day League is taking steps to obtain from the Minister for Defence permission for the Australian troops that have been accepted for service by the British Government to wear a wattle blossom badge.
It is confidently believed that there is no Australian heart that will not be cheered and uplifted in whatever hour of bitter stress by the sight of the dear little golden emblem of his native land. And it will be a proud moment for us when, among the bays of victory that shall, God grant, crown England at the end of this awful conflict, there shall be twined a little sprig of wattle.
It is proposed, should permission be obtained, that a suitable badge or button shall be designed, and presented to the troops, and that the cost (estimated at about £100) will be subscribed by the public, unless there should come forward some patriot who desires to bear the proud responsibility himself.
I am, etc., AGNES L. KETTLEWELL,
Hon. Sec., Wattle Day League, N.S.W. Branch.
Aug. 14.
Source:
The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 15 August 1914, p. 8
[Editor: Changed “etc,” to “etc.,”.]
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
The Institute of Australian Culture
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