[Editor: This article about Wattle Day was published in The Star (Sydney, NSW), 26 August 1909.]
Proposed “Wattle Day.”
Mesdames Hannah Clunies-Ross, and Agnes L. Kettlewell, and the curator of the Botanical Gardens, Mr. J. H. Maiden, are convening a meeting to be held at the Royal Society’s House, on Monday afternoon next, to consider a proposal to establish a Wattle Day throughout Australia.
The proposition is thus stated in a circular by the conveners:—
“With the view of stimulating Australian national sentiment, and connecting it with love of our beautiful flora, we suggest the desirability of setting apart, throughout the Commonwealth, a day on which an Australian national flower — the wattle blossom — might be worn, and its display encouraged. Wattles might also be sown and planted on this day. It is suggested that a date in September would be universally suitable, but we do not propose that it be a holiday. It will be necessary to communicate with public bodies and private individuals in the other States in regard to the proposal, and to arrange matters of detail, so that (if approved) the first Wattle Day could be celebrated in 1910. A committee for each State would be required, and the little inevitable expenditure would be met by an annual subscription of, say, one shilling.”
Source:
The Star (Sydney, NSW), 26 August 1909, p. 4 (First Edition)
Editor’s notes:
Agnes L. Kettlewell = Agnes Louisa Kettlewell (née Storrie) (1864-1936), poet, author, journalist, and Wattle Day campaigner; she was born in Glenelg (South Australia) in 1864, and died in Woolwich (Sydney, NSW) in 1936
See: “Agnes Louisa Storrie (Kettlewell)”, The Institute of Australian Culture
Commonwealth = the Commonwealth of Australia; the Australian nation, federated on 1 January 1901
Hannah Clunies-Ross = Hannah Elizabeth Clunies Ross (née Tilley) (1862-1947), Wattle Day campaigner; daughter of Charles Tilley (1824-1891), wife of William John Clunies Ross (1850-1914)
See: “Wattle Day”, The Institute of Australian Culture
J. H. Maiden = Joseph Henry Maiden (1859-1925), botanist, public servant, and Wattle Day campaigner; he was born in St John’s Wood (London, UK) in 1859, came to Australia in 1880, and died in Turramurra (Sydney, NSW) in 1925
See: 1) Mark Lyons and C. J. Pettigrew, “Maiden, Joseph Henry (1859–1925)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Joseph Maiden”, Wikipedia
Mesdames = (French) plural of “Madame”: a capitalised title of a married woman (similar to “Mrs.” in English usage), can also be used for an unmarried older woman or a mistress of a household; a formal, polite, and respectful form of address for a woman; derived from the Old French “ma dame”, meaning “my lady”
[Editor: Changed “Hannah Clunes-Ross” to “Hannah Clunies-Ross”.]
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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