• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Wattle Day [letter from J. H. Maiden, 30 August 1910]

1 September 2022 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This letter from J. H. Maiden, a campaigner for the widespread recognition of Wattle Day, was published in The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 30 August 1910.]

Wattle Day.

To the Editor.

Sir, — Will you permit me to invite the attention of your readers to the meeting on Wattle Day, September 1? Details are advertised, but perhaps you will allow me to say that the Chief Justice, Miss Rose Scott, and other representative people will speak. The Wattle Day movement is a national one, and branches are being formed in most of the other States. We call ourselves the New South Wales branch, and do not seek to exercise authority over any similar organisation in any of the other States. We are all co-operating to a common end, and that is to have the wattle recognised as the Australian national flower, and through it to assist in the expression of wholesome Australian national sentiment. The wattle is very widely diffused over this continent; it is distinctly Australian, it is beautiful, it is an emblem of purity and brightness.

Our league or association is purely voluntary and educative; we have no intention of asking the Government for aid, and we feel sure that, as our aims become better known, we shall have the sympathy of the vast majority of people. The teachers of several schools are, on their own initiative, bringing Wattle Day under the notice of their pupils. The idea of Wattle Day has largely been taken up by women and women’s organisations. The City Council is supporting us by planting more wattles in the parks, some city firms are making wattle displays on Wattle Day, while the nurserymen are meeting the demand for wattle trees. We ask each person to plant one wattle tree on Wattle Day.

While one of our objects is to invite people to learn more about the wattle, we stand for the preservation of the native flora in general, and we recommend study and cultivation of our native plants. We are in sympathy with such an organisation as the Wild Life Protection Society, which has for its object the preservation of our native birds and animals.

— Yours, etc., J. H. MAIDEN,
President N.S.W. Branch, Wattle Day League.
August 29.



Source:
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 30 August 1910, p. 8 (Second Edition)

Also published in:
The Sun (Sydney, NSW), 30 August 1910, p. 6
The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 30 August 1910, p. 4 (Second Edition)

Editor’s notes:
The above letter from J. H. Maiden was also published in The Sun (30 August 1910), although with an additional sentence: “I am authorised to say that the council is very appreciative of your sympathetic attitude towards our movement, which is yet in its infancy.”

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

Rose Scott = Rose Scott (1847-1925), a women’s rights activist and trade unionist; she was born in Glendon (near Singleton, NSW) in 1847, and died in Woollahra (Sydney, NSW) in 1925
See: 1) Judith Allen, “Scott, Rose (1847–1925)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Rose Scott”, Wikipedia

Wild Life Protection Society = an organisation which was formed with the primary aim of protecting native birds
See: R. Le Souef, “Bird sanctuaries”, The Daily Telegraph: Tasmania (Launceston, Tas.), 12 January 1910, p. 6

Filed Under: letters to the editor Tagged With: 500x500, Joseph Henry Maiden (1859-1925) (author), Rose Scott (1847-1925) (subject), SourceTrove, wattle, Wattle Day, Wattle Day League, year1910

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Danger-signals from Australia [2 January 1942]
  • Australian Commonwealth: Kangaroo issues [1964]
  • Phil Ately [re the Kangaroo and Map stamps, 29 April 1931]
  • Concerning a stamp [17 July 1913]
  • [From Greek literature to the new Australian postage stamp] [23 April 1913]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • Australian slang
  • Clancy of The Overflow [poem by Banjo Paterson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Peter Pearsall on The Clarence [poem by Jack Moses]
  • Trevor Hurst on Timeline of Australian history and culture

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in