September 1 today in Australia and it is Wattle Day

Warrigal

Warrigal

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Location
Sydney, Australia
Golden Wattle is Australia's national floral emblem. Right now the species commonly known as Golden Wattle is in full bloom. It makes my heart sing to see it.

The wattle has inspired many Australian poets, from Henry Kendall, and Adam Lindsay Gordon downwards, but it is very interesting to notice that one of the prettiest poems about our national flower was written by one - Miss Veronica Mason - who, though a Lancashire girl by birth learned to know and love the wattle during her residence in Tasmania. Here is her poem:-

The bush was grey
A week to-day
(Olive-green and brown and grey);
But now the spring has come this way,
With blossoms for the wattle.

It seems to be
A fairy tree;
It dances to a melody,
And sings a little song to me
(The graceful, swaying wattle):

See how it weaves
Its feathery sheaves:
Before the wind a maze it weaves,
A misty whirl of powdery leaves -
(The dainty, curtseying wattle):

Its boughs uplift
An elfin gift;
A spray of yellow, downy drift,
Through which the sunbeams shower and sift
Their gold-dust o'er the wattle.

The bush was grey
A week to-day
(olive-green and brown and grey);
But now its sunny all the way,
For, oh! the spring has come to stay,
With blossom for the wattle!

www.acrossthebluemountains.com.au/poem-wattle.html
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I remember singing this song as a child. I still remember the tune.
 

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While we are on the subject of floral emblems, the red waratah is the floral emblem of my state, New South Wales. It too has inspired poems. This one is by the more well known Henry Lawson

WARATAH AND WATTLE​

Though poor and in trouble I wander alone,
With rebel cockade in my hat,
Though friends may desert me, and kindred disown,
My country will never do that!
You may sing of the Shamrock, the Thistle, the rose,
Or the three in a bunch, if you will;
But I know of a country that gathered all those,
And I love the great land where the Waratah grows.
And the Wattle-bough blooms on the hill.

Australia! Australia! so fair to behold-
While the blue sky is arching above;
The stranger should never have need to be told,
That the Wattle-bloom means that her heart is of gold.
And the Waratah's red with her love.

Australia! Australia! most beautiful name,
Most kindly and bountiful land;
I would die every death that might save her from shame,
If a black cloud should rise on the stand;
But whatever the quarrel, whoever her foes,
Let them come! Let them come when they will!
Though the struggle be grim, 'tis Australia that knows
That her children shall fight while the Waratah grows,
And the Wattle blooms out on the hill.
- HENRY LAWSON
 

I / we was taught in school September 21 st was the first day of Spring ….and we only say ~ it’s spring time after that date
in this home :):)
 
Kadee said:
I / we was taught in school September 21 st was the first day of Spring ….and we only say ~ it’s spring time after that date
in this home :):)
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It's all a bit arbitrary, isn't it?

Unlike the northern hemisphere, there are not 4 easily distinguishable seasons in Australia. In the north there are just two - the Wet Season and The Dry.

The indigenous people recognise different numbers of seasons, depending on geography and different vegetation cycles

There is no "one" Indigenous season in Australia​

Wondering how many seasons there are for Indigenous Australians? Well, there is no universal "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander" calendar, with the groups of each area having developed their own system based on their specific environment.“ A single calendar could never truly capture the complexities found across our vast land," says Woods. "Given the rich diversity of our landscapes and ecosystems, variations in weather patterns and the behaviours of plants and animals are specific to different regions and communities," says Woods.
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“The Bundjalung cultural calendar reflects the unique environment and landscape of my home and my ancestors' origins,” she continues. The Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land recognise six seasons that align with the monsoonal climate, the Tiwi calendar has three, also evolving around the monsoon cycle, the Kaurna calendar of the Adelaide Plains recognises four seasons, determined largely by the wind. The Ngan'gi calendar of the Daly River area has thirteen, based largely around the speargrass plant cycle.
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Warrigal said:
Golden Wattle is Australia's national floral emblem. Right now the species commonly known as Golden Wattle is in full bloom. It makes my heart sing to see it.

The wattle has inspired many Australian poets, from Henry Kendall, and Adam Lindsay Gordon downwards, but it is very interesting to notice that one of the prettiest poems about our national flower was written by one - Miss Veronica Mason - who, though a Lancashire girl by birth learned to know and love the wattle during her residence in Tasmania. Here is her poem:-


I remember singing this song as a child. I still remember the tune.
Click to expand...
Warrigal: That is a lovely poem and I must admit that in all the 78 years that I have lived in Australia, I have never heard it.
Don't know what they were teaching us in school.
 
JBR said:
Mm... wattle and daub.
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A technique for building very rustic dwellings in the early stages of the colonies.

Wattle and daub is a composite building method in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called "wattle" is "daubed" with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, and straw. Wattle and daub has been used for at least 6,000 years and is still an important construction method in many parts of the world. Many historic buildings include wattle and daub construction.
The wattle and daub technique has been used since the Neolithic period.
 
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