Beginning in 1917 the children of “Campbelltown Superior*
Public School” gathered, boxed and sent thousands of golden sprigs of wattle to
their “city cousins” in inner Sydney for Wattle Day.
Reported in 1920, the children spent a
pleasant afternoon picking and packing the “rich glory of gold” after obtaining
Mr Elletson and Mr Bocking's kind permission.” Quite why they sought the
earlier town Mayor’s okay we can only speculate, perhaps they were collecting
further afield than the school grounds? But whatever the source the sprays of
vibrant yellow were certainly well received, with several appreciative replies
from inner-city school children.
Young recipient, Charles Dobeson, of 4B
Gardner’s Road Public, lamented there was very little growing around their area,
being in the middle of the "factory district" and what there was, was
of “inferior quality.”
Pupil, Leslie Levy proclaimed, “The fragrant
smell was all over the place - all the boys were smelling it. OUR two trees had
very little on them.” Another decried theirs were - “stunted with poor sandy
soil.”
Among the 7th class "a good many
already had wattle when they came to school but soon discarded theirs for
yours." Many letters noted Campbelltown as being blessed being close to
the bush.
Teacher, Mr Long even hoisted a bunch up
the flagpole along with the flag and the school gave a cry of three cheers for
the boys and girls of Campbelltown.
Wattle has always held a prominent place in Australia’s consciousness, using it for display, symbolism and reminders of home during WWI. First nation peoples used the tree for thousands of years as food, fuel, medicine and objects like spears, bags and boomerangs. Though the first official Wattle Day was celebrated in 1910 the golden wattle was only officially proclaimed as Australia's national floral emblem 1988.
In 1923, the school children of
Campbelltown had kept their promise to the "city kids" with the
wattle seemingly harvested on an industrial scale! Mr Klein of Paddington S.P.S.
reported that all 1500 of their children were, by 11 o'clock, wearing the
Campbelltown wattle.
Charles Gardiner of Balmain wrote to say
their sprigs were being sold for a penny/half penny a spray - to raise funds
for books in the library.
The last word we’ll leave to Leslie who
wrote, “Your kindness to us proves you do not easily forget your friends.”
* Superior Public Schools were schools that were officially recognised as providing both primary and post-primary education.
**Postscript.
The Teacher Librarian of Campbelltown Public School, Debbie Gilroy, has kindly contacted us to say that the school children had asked Mr Bocking's permission because they walked out to his property to collect the choicest wattle.
Thank you very much Debbie for shedding some light on the story.
Written by Michael Sullivan
References:
Wattle Day Pleasantries: Campbelltown Pupils' Gifts to their City CTN news Fri 27 Aug 1920
Wattle for City Children. CTN IBN News Aug 1923 p1,8
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