24/10/2026
How did a wildflower become the symbol of Remembrance Day? 🌺
During the First World War, red poppies were among the first plants to return to the shattered battlefields of northern France and Belgium. Soldiers said their colour came from the blood of their mates.
At Ypres in 1915, the poppies moved Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae to write a poem that begins:
"In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row"
Moina Michael, who worked for the American YMCA, read the poem just before the Armistice and resolved to wear a red poppy always.
Anna Guérin, the French YMCA secretary, took the idea further, selling poppies to support widows, orphans and veterans in need. The poppy was soon worn across the allied nations.
In 1921, the forerunner of the RSL imported a million silk poppies made in French orphanages and sold them for a shilling each, splitting the money between a charity for French children and its own welfare work.
The RSL still sells poppies for Remembrance Day today.
🔗 Learn more: https://brnw.ch/21x6Dk5
📸 Artwork: Kenneth Macqueen, 'Wild poppies, Mont Kemmel',
c.1917-1918, watercolour on paper, 11.9 cm x 17.6 cm. ART93950
(Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by the Macqueen family in 2009)
