Book  (1999)  Page(s) 25.  
 
‘Welcome Stranger’. Des Fankhauser – 1968. Cluster Flowered Bush rose, fragrant, large, single yellow flowers. No longer available.

Website/Catalog  (1997)  Page(s) 18.  
 
Des Fankhauser of Hopetoun and Rosebud, Victoria, bred Welcome Stranger (Fl ’68 single yellow)

Newsletter  (1996)  Page(s) 15. Vol 5, No. 2.  
 
Welcome Stranger. Flor. 1967. D. A. Fankhauser.

Book  (1970)  Page(s) 38.  
 
"Welcome Stranger". by D. A. Fankhauser, Rosebud, Victoria, Australia 
I scanned the cover format of the farewell presentation card which read simply: 
"We Knew Not the Rich Reward When we said, 'Welcome Stranger ' ." 
Inside, the inscription continued: 
"Through the Simple Charm and Grace of our New Rose. 'Nancy Bergh' 
We, the Staff and Students of Hopetown High School, Salute and Remember You." 
Hopetown, Victoria, Australia, 3rd August, 1967 
I looked downstage at the throng of expectant faces in the assembly hall, then glanced hurriedly across at the head-prefect with her arm about Nancy. Caught up in an epidemic of last good-byes to Australia's hospitable Mallee folk, it had been an emotional few terminal days for the young American girl. And, now, sensitized to the sudden pangs of impendent departure, Nancy would soon be confronted with the final breach of bidding farewell to her former schoolmates before her journey home via New Zealand and Hawaii. I fidgeted with thoughts of almost a year ago, when Nancy Bergh, a "Senior" at Spokane's Lewis and Clark High School, left Seattle’s airport on her seventeenth birthday, hosted by the Hopetown Rotary Club, Victoria, Australia, and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Spokane Valley, Washington, U.S.A. From a selection between Australia, Mexico and Argentina, the young cellist from Spokane's Junior Symphony Orchestra chose Australia, which she said, had always been her first preference given the opportunity to travel. (Nancy's widowed mother, Mrs. Sue Bergh, had already visited 'down under', when she served as a trained nurse aboard a U.S. Navy hospital-ship during the Battle of the Coral Sea). 
Three days out from Seattle, Hopetown's first Exchange Student was officially welcomed by Rotary and next day quickly settled in at high school. It was here that I came to know and admire Nancy Bergh. I reflected in quick retrospect through her 12 months and emerged with highlights that had made her "the darling of Hopetown" on the rich, wheat plains of Victoria's North-West among tough, laconic Mallee veterans. In fragmentary glimpses of her Northern tour, I remembered the spontaneous echo of "America's finest daughter" from Queensland's distant sugar towns. I retraced other Rotarian travels - to Alice Springs, The Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide - and recalled the familiar pattern of each new tour as Nancy further enhanced the perfect image of "young America". At home base, I revived memories of her unwearied enthusiasm and energy as she met the tight schedule of local activities. At official functions I remembered her polished speechmaking and her flair for the 'entente cordiale' wedded to an impeccable diplomacy. At school, I remembered her as a talented student. Significantly, I remembered her in private homes for warmth and affection, compassion and understanding - precious gifts born of strong family ties that touched tiniest infant on through every member of the host household. Most of all, I remembered Nancy as others would remember her - a delightful blend of attractive youthfulness and intelligent maturity matched with a personality of sheer refreshment. ENVOI Subsequently, at Honolulu, Nancy learned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that her application to import three plants of her rose, had been refused. This decision, not altogether unexpected, was accepted philosophically by Nancy in view of her familiarity with the long standing embargo on the entry status of Australian rose material into the United States. 
However, in this special case (in which the American Rose Society acted in good faith as interceder), it was genuinely hoped that the Plant Quarantine Division would relax its strict prohibition for 12 months, the maximum period of isolation necessary to expose symptoms of the plant virus, 'Verticillium wilt', synonymous with rose virus Marmor flaccumfaciens Holmes. ('Verticillium wilt', recognised in Australia since 1921, but unknown to occur in the United States, is a soil borne fungus gaining access to a plant through the roots. It is evidenced in roses by a brownish discolouration along the stems associated with a precise type of dieback resulting from wilt of young growth shoots during high, summer temperatures. Infected plants recover temporarily in cooler weather, but progressively succumb in successive years). The Floribunda cultivar, 'Nancy Bergh', is due to be released commercially in Australia in 1971. It has a most distinguished birthright derived from a long list of famous progenitors dating back to mid 1600 and was originated in 1962 from two outstanding, modern roses - 'Independence' (Flor.) x 'Impeccable' (H.T.). The flowers are large and fragrant with distinctive amber stamens; the colour is silvery-pink flecked crimson deepening to cherry-red, and the habit of bloom is both profuse and continuous. The rose is complemented by healthy, leathery foliage on a tall, strong plant of vigorous growth .

Book  (1968)  Page(s) 164.  
 
New Roses of the World. Welcome Stranger. F. (IIIC) (D. A. Fankhauser; int. A. Ross & Son ’68). ‘Cl. Ophelia’ x ‘Allgold’. Very large, long pointed buds. Very large, yellow with golden stamens, single blooms. Petals drop off cleanly. Very good lasting quality. Strong fragrance. Abundant, extra large, tough, leathery and glossy foliage. Disease resistant. Few thorns. Very vigorous, compact growth. Profuse blooming.

Book  (1968)  Page(s) 57.  
 
Dr. A. S. Thomas. New Rose Registrations. Welcome Stranger. Flor. D. Fankhauser, 1967.