By Mikayla van Loon
For women and children who have left their homes all over the Yarra Ranges and beyond because of abuse can now feel as though the are quietly seen with the opening of the Garden of Contemplation.
After days of tiring work to get the rear garden at The Bridge House weeded and landscaped, community organisations, council members and those who worked on the garden enjoyed a small celebration on Tuesday 8 March for International Women’s Day.
Japara House’s community engagement officer Jackie Warren said none of it would have been possible without the idea Mieke Alexander came to her with.
“I thought it was a good project because it was brought to us by a community member and we felt it was for a group that didn’t need a signpost or a monument or anything like that, but just somewhere quiet for reflection,” she said.
“We had the space here and we just thought it was just a perfect spot where it was private but not too private and that people would just come and reflect or have a quiet place to sit.”
With so much else going on in the other garden spaces at The Bridge House, Ms Warren said it would provide another element to the space and will complement the rest of the grounds.
“This area now will be the quiet part of the garden where people will be able to come and sit and have their lunch, whereas the other part of the gardens will hopefully be full of garden beds for vegetables, for planting, for a community compost and just basically learning for the community.”
Ms Warren said her hope with the garden being connected to a community house is that women will feel safe to walk into the house and ask for help.
Yarra Ranges Councillor Len Cox said the garden is now a great asset for the Kilsyth area and he is so pleased to see the space being used purposefully.
“The people who organised this should be congratulated because six months ago this was looking very shabby and it had been overgrown by weed plants and it was looking terrible and they’ve brought it up to scratch,” he said.
“It is looking very attractive and I think they’ve done such a good job at sorting it out and it’ll get used more now that it’s looking like this.”
Originally Cr Cox said the garden was used to look after those who had been hurt in accidents and had resulting brain damage or physical damage.
“That all stopped about 10 years ago and it had all just slowly deteriorated but now it’s had a rebirth,” he said.
The garden has now taken on a similar purpose in honouring those who have suffered from family violence to reflect, find peace and feel safe.
“We’ve managed to provide what we hope is a place of peace that recognises and honours survivors to show we know,” Ms Alexander said.
“We hope this garden will be used by all. Some to remember where they’ve come from, some to rest and forget and some like me who like to be surprised sometimes and reflect how fortunate they are to have the life they’ve had.”
