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Event Wattle Day Appeal (c. 1910 - c. 1975)

  • Click to view details about this Newspaper article

    Wattle Day for the Children, 18 August 1928, courtesy of National Library of Australia.
    Details

From
c. 1910
To
c. 1975
Categories
Event

Summary

The annual Wattle Day Appeal was organised by the Children's Welfare Association of Victoria from 1921, to raise funds for its member institutions. Wattle Day generally took place on a Friday in the month of August. The annual event resulted in increased publicity opportunities in the press about Victorian institutions, in which images of children featured prominently.

Details

From 1915 to 1921, Wattle Day was run by the Commonwealth Button Fund. When the Fund was wound up in January 1921, the event became the business of the Children's Welfare Association.

In 1924, the Victorian Year Book described the annual Wattle Day event thus: 'ladies attired in white costumes sell sprigs of wattle blossom in the streets and elsewhere, and the amounts obtained are allotted to charities for children'. Wattle Day workers also sold buttons, and put on displays and demonstrations of the work of various institutions.

For example, on 24 August 1933, the Argus reported that supporters of the Mission of St James and St John's Babies' Home would hold a Wattle Day stall at the GPO in Bourke Street where cakes, jams and produce would be on sale, and gifts from the public would be accepted.

From 1958, Wattle Day was held in the annual Child Care Week.

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Related Organisations

Publications

Books

  • Barnard, Jill; Twigg, Karen, Holding on to Hope: a history of the founding agencies of MacKillop Family Services 1854-1997, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2004. Details
  • Howe, Renate; Swain, Shurlee, All God's Children: a centenary history of the Methodist Homes for Children and the Orana Peace Memorial Homes, Acorn Press, Kambah, ACT, 1989. Details

Journals

  • Victorian Year Book, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Victorian Office, 1873 - 2002. 1923-24. Details
  • Hops Steps and Jumps, Quarterly news from the Children's Welfare Association of Victoria, Children's Welfare Association of Victoria, 1975-1979. June 1976. Details

Online Resources

Gallery

Title
Wattle Day Twins
Type
Newspaper article
Source
National Library of Australia

Details

Title
Foundling Hospital Gift Cot
Type
Newspaper article
Date
25 August 1923
Source
National Library of Australia

Details

Title
Wattle Day for Children's Charities
Type
Newspaper article
Date
2 August 1924
Source
National Library of Australia

Details

Title
Wattle Day for the Children
Type
Newspaper article
Date
18 August 1928
Source
National Library of Australia

Details

Title
Wattle Day in the City
Type
Newspaper article
Date
26 August 1933
Source
National Library of Australia

Details

Title
Wattle Day
Type
Newspaper article
Date
19 August 1938
Source
National Library of Australia

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: Victorian Year Book, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Victorian Office, 1873 - 2002. 1923-24.; Hops Steps and Jumps, Quarterly news from the Children's Welfare Association of Victoria, Children's Welfare Association of Victoria, 1975-1979. June 1976.; Barnard, Jill; Twigg, Karen, Holding on to Hope: a history of the founding agencies of MacKillop Family Services 1854-1997, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2004; Howe, Renate; Swain, Shurlee, All God's Children: a centenary history of the Methodist Homes for Children and the Orana Peace Memorial Homes, Acorn Press, Kambah, ACT, 1989.

Prepared by: Cate O'Neill

Created: 31 July 2009, Last modified: 28 October 2011