Wattle Nymphs: Dreamy Antique Aesthetic

Acacia baileyana illustration, Golden Wattle: Our National Floral Emblem

Back at home in Australia for the first time over winter and now into spring, I’ve been really excited getting to witness all of the wattle blossoming. As the national emblem of Australia, you can really see why this is when catching a tree in bloom on a cold wintery day.

It’s been said that the blossoms offer a glimpse of hope, as a sign that spring is coming and soon winter will be over.

Wattle is one of my favourite things about Australia and one of my favourite plants. Belonging to the family Mimosaceae, the genus Acacia, more commonly known as wattle has close to 1305 varieties around the world. Around 1000 of these in Australia alone.

Recently while doing some further research into the plant, I came across the book Golden Wattle: Our National Floral Emblem by Archibald James Campbell (1921).

Campbell took a series of photographs for this book, titled Wattle Nymphs.

I wanted to share some of the images as I found them incredibly serene, dreamy and beautiful.