Australia’s National Wattle Day was celebrated in Condobolin and across the Lachlan Shire on 1 September.
‘Wattle Day’ heralds the start of the Spring in Australia, a season when the ‘acacia’ (wattle) species sprouts flowers in abundance.
It has been an official national day since 1992, although it was first celebrated in 1910. Wattle in all its variety symbolises optimism, resilience, renewal, diversity, and unity.
The winner of the 2023 Golden Wattle Award, which is given by the Wattle Day Association, was Vanessa Alexander, a scriptwriter from Newcastle (NSW).
The Golden Wattle Award is announced each year on National Wattle Day (1 September), and is given to an Australian whose outstanding achievements have brought honour and inspiration to their fellow Australians and the nation. The Award invokes the gold of the Wattle blossom in Spring that stands out in the Australian landscape each year at this time.
The Wattle Day Association Inc is a volunteer not-for-profit community organisation. It was founded in 1998 in Canberra to promote awareness of National Wattle Day as a unifying day for all Australians on 1 September (since 1992) and that the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) is Australia’s national floral emblem (since 1988).
Vanessa receives the 2023 award for her truly life changing advocacy and activism on behalf of refugees escaping from Taliban-run Afghanistan. Vanessa has been responsible for saving scores of Afghani women and men, whose lives were at risk following the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.
Previous recipients of this award include the Lismore community NSW (2022), Olympic swimming champion, Emma McKeon (2021), tennis greats Ashleigh Barty and Dylan Alcott, (2019), Craig Challen and Richard Harris, underwater rescuers of the young Thai soccer team (2018), Samuel Johnson and his sister, Connie (2017), Melbourne Cup winning jockey Michelle Payne and her champion strapper brother, Steve (2016), surfers Julian Wilson & Mick Fanning (2015), VC winner Ben Roberts-Smith (2014), Mel Irons a Tasmanian student and community activist (2013), Nobel Prize winner Professor Brian Schmidt (2012) and Tour De France Winner Cadel Evans (2011).