National Wattle Day Tree-Planting Ceremony 2026

Member for Stafford, Mr Luke Richmond MP; Councillor for Marchant Ward, Councillor Danita Parry; The Queensland Wattle Association, President, Mr Mike Gilmour; Mount Alvernia College, Board Chair, Ms Kate Eggar, Principal, Ms Samantha Jensen, and Curator of Gardens, Mr David Pratt; Padua College, Principal Mr Bruce McPhee and St Anthony's Primary School Principal, Mr Warren Fields; staff and students, distinguished guests.

I begin by also acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbul and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to all First Nations people here this morning.

It is a great pleasure to join you in this beautiful garden for today’s double celebration — first, to mark National Wattle Day and second, to commemorate Mount Alvernia’s 70th anniversary.  

Thank you for inviting me to share in this special occasion by planting a wattle, and I warmly acknowledge the Queensland Wattle Association members here today as well as the principal, staff and students of the college, especially your Curator of Gardens, Mr David Pratt, whose passion and care are so fundamental to maintaining of La Foresta as a living tribute to St Francis and the Franciscan values that guide your school.

Today, we gather for the simple act of planting a tree, an act that is rich in meaning for this school and for all of us as Australians.  

First, it celebrates the beginning of the Season of Creation, the time of reflection and prayer that is so important at this school, but it also marks the continuation of the Arbor Day tradition that began in Australia in the 19th century when schools and communities planted trees, on the first day of Spring, to teach the values of responsible citizenship and environmental care.

It’s a tradition that we can be very proud of as Australians today because the many thousands of trees planted over that time around the nation have been a gift to the future, a declaration that, as a society and as individuals, we care for the living world, the land and the environment.

Wattle Day grew from a similar desire to create a shared Australian custom.  

The very first Wattle Day was celebrated more than a century ago, thanks to the efforts of the celebrated Victorian naturalist, Archibald Campbell, but it was the passion and dedication of Armidale woman, Mrs Maria Hitchcock, that finally saw the Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha, formally gazetted as Australia’s national floral emblem in 1988.

Today, thanks to the ongoing commitment of organisations like the Queensland Wattle Association, the wattle has become an indelible part of our national identity. Synonymous with resilience and boasting more than a thousand different species, there is no better symbol to represent our rich, multicultural nation.  

The tree planted today will become part of the history of Mount Alvernia.  

As it grows, it will witness generations of students and teachers as they continue to shape the life of this community and carry forward its core values.

Chief among those values is the example set by St Francis of Assisi. In his reverence for creation, he saw the natural world not as something separate from humanity, but as a community of living things to which we are all connected.  

His wonderful example encourages us all to approach the environment with gratitude rather than indifference, and with responsibility not a sense of entitlement.

Environmental stewardship begins precisely in the way we are beginning today — by planting this tree. By working together to protect trees and preserve habitats, we learn how our everyday choices affect the world around us.  

As this young wattle takes root, my hope is that it will remind everyone who sees it, or pauses to read this plaque, that our individual actions matter, and that care for the earth is inseparable from care for one another.

I congratulate the school on 70 years of service and achievement and thank the Queensland Wattle Association for selecting Mount Alvernia College as its partner school for this year’s Wattle Day.  

It is my pleasure now to plant this tree in celebration of Wattle Day and the school’s 70th anniversary, and in commemoration of the enduring spirit of St Francis of Assisi.