Wattle - a symbol of Australia
Mark McKenna's paper, 'Wattle place and feeling for country in an Australian republic'
presented in 20017 to a Wattle Day Fourm organised by the Wattle Day Association at the National Library of Australia.
In 2007 to celebrate National Wattle Day the Wattle Day Association organised a forum at the National Library of Australia, Canberra. Among the speakers was Professor Mark McKenna who presented his paper, 'Wattle, place and feeling for country in an Australian republic'.
Professor McKenna, who works at the University of Sydney, said in 2007 that, 'he would like to see the republic movement embrace wattle as a symbol. Not to claim it exclusively for ourselves, but to use it in the spirit of the olive branch, as a reconciler and a positive symbol of the attachment we all feel towards this country'.