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One of the best of Australian citizens, Mr. Thomas Pi-ice, who died a short time ago, Premier of 
South Australia, not long before his death sent a message to school children, in which he stated that at 
one time he yearned for his own children to be brilliant scholars, but later in life he felt that of far greater 
importance was the necessity for them to be good. And men and women of mature judgment will almost 
unanimously say that it is better for a nation for its citizens to be good than to be learned. We can all 
try to be good. Being good does not mean being namby-pamby, and we surely cannot be good if we 
neglect our lessons. 
The original meaning of an emblem is that which is put in or on inlaid work, in fact and hence 
an emblem is the visible sign of an idea. Now, we have emblems for all sorts of ideas, and some of them 
are adopted by small sections of the community. A national emblem is the Union Jack, which is 
indicative of our country, of ourselves. It is only a bit of woven material, bunting, but what does it 
represent ? The majesty of the Empire. The other day I read of some subjects of the Empire who were 
thought to be in danger from rioters in a foreign city. Happily, they were not injured, but in reporting 
the incident when the trouble was over the leader of those in danger said : " I had no fear : I had the 
British flag ready to run up : they always respect that." So that a piece of woven material which stands 
for the protection of the citizens of the Empire is a worthy emblem. 
Now, I want to speak to you of an emblem of peace, one which I trust will never be used as the 
emblem of a party in time of war. I allude to a flower, a beautiful Australian flower, called the Wattle, 
Four years ago today, in this very room, I suggested the wattle as an Australian national emblem, 
and, the matter having been taken up, we last year formed the Wattle Day League, and our object is to 
stimulate Australian national sentiment by means of this flower. Let the Australian wattle have a place 
l>csitl(i the rose of England, the thistle of Scotland, and shamrock of Ireland, and the various national 
ilinviTs I spoke to you about on that occasion. 
We do not propose to have another holiday for Wattle Day- -perhaps you will be sorry for that- 
but to wear a spray of wattle, and I believe that if we turn our attention to it on that spring day which 
we propose to set apart as Wattle Day, we shall study it and love it more because of its beauty and its 
associations. And the more we study it and admire it the more we shall take care of it, and the shrubs 
and trees will not he really injured by the sprays we cut off. Indeed, we shall plant more beautiful wattles 
than ever we did before. Where wattle is not conveniently obtainable we shall have neat representations 
of it. I want you to think about this Wattle Day League, and tell your fathers and mothers about it. 
The wattle stands for sunshine, for purity, for beauty, for goodwill throughout Australia, for a 
united, happy people, Australians first, and then New South Welshmen next. Then loyalty to ourselves, 
" To thine own self be true " will make us loyal members of the grand old Empire, (Sydney Morning 
Herald, 25th May, 1910.) 
3. THE BOTANY OF THE WATTLE. 
If the question were to be asked, "What group of plants does most to decorate the Australian 
bush ? " most people would at once reply, " Wattles." It is true that we have hundreds of other ornamental 
plants, some of which are exceedingly beautiful, and to some of which, as regards single plants or sprays 
of flowers, the crown of beauty would, perhaps, be awarded before the wattle. Yet, bearing in mind their 
abundance, their wealth of flowers, their beauty of foliage, their wide distribution, 'and the prolonged 
flowering season of one or other of them, wattles bear the palm for the part they take in adorning this 
bright sunny land. 
Probably the first reference to an Australian wattle is that quoted by the late Professor E. E. Morris 
from Governor Phillip's " Voyage," where, at page 124, occurs the words, "The huts .... composed 
only of upright posts, wattled with slight twigs, and plaistered up with clay." The original wattle 
employed was that after which Black Wattle Swamp, Sydney (near the head of Darling Harbour), was 
named, and is a slender tree known as Callieoina serratifolia. Very soon, however, the plentifulness and 
utility of the acacia (or mimosa, as it was more generally known at that time) were recognised, and it 
supplanted the Callicoma both in utilisation and in name. 
Wattle is an old Anglo-Saxon word signifying a flexible rod, or a frame- work of such rods; and the 
very name carries us back to the dawn of civilisation. Although Australia lias passed through the stage 
when wattling was an essential part of a dwelling and a recognised colonial industry, the wattle has still 
utilitarian associations, for the barks of some species are valuable tanning agents, and thousands of acres 
are conserved or planted for the yield of this product alone. 
