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It is a great honour to be Patron of the Wattle Day Association. And I am delighted to welcome you to Government House for this early celebration of Wattle Day.

On Sunday, as I was heading back to Canberra along the Hume Highway, the dramatic explosion of golden wattle made me feel so happy. I was smiling all the way home.

Unfortunately, on Wattle Day itself – the 1st of September –  I will be on a plane. We will be travelling to Japan, to represent Australia at World Expo in Osaka, before state visits to Mongolia and Vietnam.  

Thank you for bringing our official celebrations forward so that we could gather here at Government House.

This official home, and the role of Governor-General, are beautifully connected to the wattle as our national floral emblem, which you can see on our insignia – the wattle and crown worn by everyone who works here.

You will have seen the William Dargie portrait of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth – known as ‘The Wattle Queen’ – as you arrived.

And the exquisite botanical paintings of wattle by Ellis Rowan, which frame the state entrance.

One of my favourite childhood books, May Gibbs’ Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, is unimaginable without the gorgeous Wattle Babies.

Wattle is ubiquitous here. In our official emblem – on my pin, on our flags, on all our official documents, correspondence, birthday and anniversary cards, and on the menus and place cards for official functions with special visitors.

It is part of the exquisite celebration of Australian wood – as the Acacia – in the display near the state entrance.

Fifty years ago, it was Stuart Devlin’s inspiration for the insignia of the Order of Australia.

We always try to use wattle in the wreaths we lay on significant occasions.

On the day I was sworn in, on 1 July last year, together with my family and my team, we wore sprigs of wattle into the ceremonies at Parliament House.  

It was meaningful for us to celebrate wattle, when I committed myself to being a modern, visible and optimistic Governor-General of Australia.  

The eagle eyes of the passionate Wattle Day Association immediately recognised that – and subsequently every time I have added wattle to my wardrobe: earrings and brooches snapped up at the Arboretum, or wherever I travel.

And we ensured that when I officially opened the 48th Parliament just a few weeks ago, our wattle sprays were again on our lapels.

Every day the wattle is felt here. Just this morning, when I met with the Ambassador of Vietnam, I was presented with a gorgeous Ao Dai – the traditional Vietnamese dress, which I will wear at a state dinner in Vietnam next week.

It had been meticulously created for me and our visit. It is in the hues of our national flag, with a glorious spray of golden wattle the single adornment.

The Ambassador had discovered that our wattle is also loved in Vietnam – known as mimosa, and found often in Dalat.  

You will be delighted to learn that he described the wattle as representing love, affection and friendship.  

I am so happily delighted to always amplify wattle as our national symbol: the turning point between winter and spring; the first plant to regenerate after fire. A symbol of hope, happiness, and resilience.  

There is a long and proud connection between the office of Governor-General and wattle.

Some of my predecessors have played significant roles.  

Sir Ninian Stephen declared wattle our national emblem in 1988, and Wattle Day was declared a national day by then Governor-General Bill Hayden in 1992.  

And, in this role, I now understand deeply what motivated them. In the early weeks of exploring this house as my temporary home, I discovered a slim book, Gum Boughs and Wattle Blooms, by Donald McDonald.

Of course, Australians had been celebrating Wattle Day for many decades before. As early as 1910, Wattle Day was held in the states and territories as a day of special meaning – if not for our nation, then for our national character, and the great natural beauty of our continent.

In 1999, another Governor-General, Sir William Deane, poignantly took wattle picked from the gardens here when he travelled to Switzerland to mourn the young Australians who had died in a canyoning accident at Interlaken.  

In that moment of remembrance and sorrow, wattle was a symbol of home for the families of those who had perished so far away.

As Sir William said, “[W]hen we are back in Australia we will remember how the flowers and the perfume and the pollen of their and our homeland were carried down the river where they died to Lake Brienz in this beautiful country on the far side of the world.”

As I travel around the country, people often tell me how much that beautiful gesture meant to them at the time. In fact, it inspired us to take rosemary and roses from our garden here to Gallipoli this year for Anzac Day.

Over the course of my term I want to build on this tradition and history.

I will tell the story of Wattle Day to more Australians. And we are finding important ways for the day to have meaning.  

The Australian Bravery Council has determined that this year, for the first time ever, our recipients of Bravery Decorations will be publicly announced on Wattle Day.

That’s just one step.  

In a few weeks, on Citizenship Day, we will be holding a citizenship ceremony here at Government House. On that day I will be presenting each of our newest citizens with both the formal recognition of their citizenship and, of course, a wattle seedling.

There will be other ideas and initiatives in future years – and not just from this Office.

I hope Wattle Day can develop into an opportunity for all Australians to reflect on the characteristics of wattle – hope, growth and resilience – already embedded in so many of our important national symbols …  

…and most importantly, to use this exquisite plant to reflect on our national story.

On our past and the braided strength of our three-part story: beginning with 65,000 years of First Nations culture so generously and purposefully shared; continuing with the enduring strength of our institutions of democracy and civil society; and expressed in our most recent chapter of remarkable multiculturalism, welcoming 7 million migrants and almost 1 million refugees.  

The story of who we are today and the modern Australia we have become.

That’s the story that I see around Australia. Wattle is a vivid and visible reminder of it.

A symbol of us.

I have had wattle on my desk every day since it first bloomed about a month ago.

Whether I’m walking in the grounds here, or meeting people out and about in Canberra, I see wattle everywhere.

And I recognise it as a glorious and vivid symbol of us, and our country.  

Thank you to the Wattle Day Association for our continuing care for this symbol, and its place in our lives and our calendars.  

I love that you notice every gesture we make, and let me know.

Thank you for everything you do to remind Australians of how much the wattle means to us, and how much we have to be grateful for.

To everyone gathered here, and everyone across Australia waiting for spring, happy Wattle Day.