Wattle Day 2024: Sydney [Sydney Park, St Peters] Event Cache

Wattle Day 2024: Sydney
[Sydney Park, St Peters]

Join us for a casual "meet and greet" event to celebrate the re-awakening of interest in an old tradition, National Wattle Day.

Last year was the return of The Wattle Day Event in Sydney. I am reigniting the tradtion that JordsAU once promoted.

NB: Sunday 1st September is Father's Day and so this will be a Pre-Wattle Day Event on Saturday 31st August.

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which our event is located, the Gadigal and Wangal People of the Darug Nation, and their continuing connection to Country and community. We pay our respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

We recognise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Australians and we are committed to honouring their unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and seas, and their rich contribution to society.

Attending this Geocaching Event

Everyone is welcome and we look forward to celebrating Wattle Day with you!

• LOCATION: At the top of the hill known as The Trail, Sydney Park, St Peters
• DATE: Saturday, 31st August 2024 (Sunday 1st September is Father's Day)
• TIME 3:30pm - 4:30pm (1530 - 1630)
• GETTING THERE: By train (St Peters station), bus, bicycle or car.
• WHAT TO BRING: Yourself or any trackables for discovery or swapping. Food and beverages are available nearby.
• CUSTOMS: Wear a sprig of wattle, and greet geocachers & muggles alike with "Happy Wattle Day".

There are facilities in the park for all ages - playground, cycling, dog park, skatepark. There is so much open space to explore.

The park is dog friendly with a designated off leash area.

There are a few local caches nearby as well as some ALs that start here if you haven't been here before.

If you plan on coming along, please log a ‘Will Attend’.

⬆️ Look for the Golden Wattle Flag at the event! ⬆️

A Brief History of Wattle Day

As well as being the official start of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, the 1st of September is a day of celebration in Australia, known as National Wattle Day. Wattle Day has been celebrated since the early 1900's (with origins dating back to the early 1800’s).

In 1992, it was declared that "1st September in each year shall be observed as 'National Wattle Day' throughout Australia and in the external Territories of Australia".

Anyone who went to primary school in NSW in the 1950s or 1960s will remember Wattle Day. It was held on 1 August. Students were encouraged to research wattles or native plants, wear sprigs of wattle, play wattle games, write poems or stories with wattle as a theme or were even taken on short walks through local bushland in search of different wattles.

Spring is a time when many wattles (acacias) are blossoming, and people often wear a sprig of the flowers and leaves to celebrate the day. Although the national floral emblem of Australia is a particular species, called the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha), any wattle can be worn to celebrate the day. Wattle is seen as a unique and quintessential Australian symbol.

Perhaps Dr Rod Panter summed it up best when he wrote in 1997 that: "Wattle and Wattle Day can symbolise virtually anything we want, but they relate generally to Spring, being Australian, the Australian environment, and history. Spring has many positive values such as optimism, bounty and abundance, reliability, colour, new life and so on. We can celebrate our 'Australianness' on Wattle Day in quite a different way from ANZAC Day, which in recalling past wars glorifies Australian qualities of courage and mateship. Wattle Day, by contrast, looks forward (to Spring) and can celebrate the nation's undoubted qualities of good humour, fairness, generosity, informality and democracy."

'Wadanguli' is the word for wattle in Dharug, the Sydney language.

(Sources & further reading: The Golden Wattle Flag - Why the Wattle? and the Wattle Day Association).