Wattle Day

31
Written by Catherin J Pascal Dunk

Yesterday afternoon when I stepped outside, I smelt the first wattle blooms on the air in my street—a clear sign that spring is aloft.

Officially Wattle Day is now the first of September throughout so-called Australia,1 but it used to be the first of August in my state (New South Wales)2 because some of our varieties flower in the winter.

Yay for spring/gurrung!3

Photo by Kata Tsumuri on Pexels.com

  1. There is no First Nations name for the whole stolen continent in my understanding, but it Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land. ↩︎
  2. I live on unceded, stolen lands. There is no First Nations name for the entire state as it was made up of many language groups. ↩︎
  3. This is a word for spring in one Aboriginal language. There are at least six recognised seasons. ↩︎

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31 Comments

      3. I’ve planted 3 kinds in my rental yard so far…maybe this year I’ll get some blooms! They’re lovely when young, and grow fast, but they don’t last more than 10 years or so usually. Being leguminous, they add nitrogen to the soil and help protect other plants getting established, too.

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  5. I’m unfamiliar with wattle. But this post is so mindful of Australia being stolen land and I’m gladly surprised how Australians in general acknowledge the native people. In comparison, just see how North Americans behave toward their stolen land and the indigenous.

    In many cultures, specific respect (prayers, rituals, stories, etc) is given to the land that one is born in and lives in, or to wider Mother Earth. When we stop respecting or appreciating the basics (land, air, water, food), we have little scope to respect anything else beyond our selves (and the immediate people that serve our identity).

    This is a long way of saying I appreciate the footnotes in this post.

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    Reply

      1. Yes, it’s always a spectrum of opinions everywhere but at least there’s recognition at the highest level, and in turn, it asks everyone to think about their relationship to the land they live in, which invites appreciation.

        I saw a video on the resistance of modern Indian (work) migrants coming to Oz. There was a rebuttal hearing explaining that Indians are more native to the land than European migrants (DNA confirms admixture of South Indians adding to Aboriginal people 4,000 yrs ago). What to say after that…!

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