AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL FLOWER. 



TU I UK EDITOR OK 1II1-: Al STUAI.A^IAN. 



Sir, — I crave your indulgence to place be- 

 fore you the belief that, according to my 

 view, and the view of the members of my 

 league, there is no substantial reason why 

 the waltle-flower should have ever been 

 ■6ut forward as an Australian floral emblem. 

 |.'tudenis of the flora and the history of our 

 iaml must be struck with the fact that the 

 •ci-jntists (Joseph Banks and Dr. Solauder), 

 TV'ho accompanied Captain Cook to Aus- 

 tralia, found many plants absolutely new 

 to science. So much so. that the great 

 tjinnacus said that "New Holland" should 

 be called "Banksia." Most prominent 

 anijngst our very own flowers is the wara- 

 tah. As early as 1793 Sir James !:>mith, 

 president of the Royal Society, wrote: — 

 "The most beautiful flower that the prolific 

 soil of X^ew Holland affords is, by cominon 

 consent, both of Europeans and natives, 

 the waratah." 



Before that year, a live plant from Sidney 

 <;'ovc had reached England, and one was 

 trowing in the garden of the Dpwager Lady 

 ^jft Clifford, near Barnet. Our early 

 I^cneers took this flower to their hearts, as 

 ^e floral representative of the land, and 

 li^-er, until 1906, when South Australia set 

 '«at to dethrone it, was any other flower 

 erer thought of as the national flower of 

 Australia. I was born in 1875, and from in- 

 ^jOcy v.as taught it. Richard T. Baker, ! 

 *.L.S., of Sydney, has produced the iinest 

 ^"xCalidnal Flower Book" in the world, and 

 it is devoted to showing how our wonder- 

 ftxJ and sti-ikingly handsome national flower 

 ler.da itself to the decorative designer. 

 Every State of the Commonwealth has it 

 in all branches of applied art. The only 

 'flower that the natives ever showed with 

 their shy pride to the whites was the wara- 

 tah. It is native to Queensland, Victoria, 

 New South Wales, and 'J'asmania. Jt waa 

 relieved by Linnaeus, Smith, Curtis, and 

 botanists of their day to be an erabothriimi, 

 but an examination of the bracts proved 

 that no known familj' of plants could claim 

 it. Ju the early "teens" of last century, 

 the great Browne named it Telopea (seen 

 from afar), and the varieties are "speciosis- 

 I simn," (Q. and N.S.W.) "Oreades" 

 [(N.S.W. and V.), and '^Truncata" (T.). 

 X have na doubt that it will also be found 

 in tlie sandstone tracts of the inteiior. 



The wattle has no claim. It is dangerous 

 to health. It breeds the most dangerous 

 insects and grubs. It is a diseased object 

 in less than three years. It is common to 

 tlie vv'hole Southern Hemi.«phere. Its 

 family (acacia) is conunon to the whole 

 world; It cannot be perpetuated in applied 

 art. ^Melbourne has honoured. its pioneers. 

 I am confronted on all sides with the names 

 "Batman,-' "Henty," and so on. AVe are 

 not goin^ to insult the choice, as a national 

 floAyer, ot piu' pioneers, and we have every 

 reason to be highly proud of the flower 

 that is the most beautiful of the world in 

 applied art, and is the most strikingly hand- 

 some, lioth in foi-est^ \vil(L_ and hc^iic gar- 

 den. — Yours,&c., ^--^nc^ ^i/ic/^l'y^^Z'f^^ 

 ..A^UUn;ij*y»>JL^ W. PECK, 



n^.tel F ederal.J)ec. lil, jq^l ^ 



