Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden, Memorial garden in Kings Domain, Melbourne, Australia
The Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden is a formal, symmetrical garden in Kings Domain designed by Hugh Linaker. A watercourse runs through it and flows into a grotto that contains a bronze statue of a woman by sculptor Charles Web Gilbert.
The garden grew out of Melbourne's 1934 centenary: in 1933 a Women's Centenary Council was formed so women's views would be included, and its first meeting agreed to create a memorial garden of remembrance in Kings Domain. Fundraising included a commemorative book and public subscriptions to inscribe a woman's name on a "sheet of remembrance"; these sheets were later buried beneath the garden's sundial. Hugh Linaker designed the garden, and two plaques were unveiled there on 8 June 1935 by Lady Huntingfield and Mrs I.H. Moss.
The garden's sundial marks where "sheets of remembrance" bearing the names of individual women, bought by public subscription during the 1934 centenary fundraising, were buried. Two plaques were unveiled on 8 June 1935 by Lady Huntingfield, wife of the Governor of Victoria, and Mrs I.H. Moss, president of the Women's Centenary Council. The garden is now a popular setting for outdoor weddings.
The garden sits in Kings Domain, near the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance, so it can be combined with a walk through the surrounding parkland. The two memorial plaques were unveiled on 8 June 1935, and the garden is still used for outdoor weddings, so parts of it may be occupied by ceremonies at times.
The sheets of remembrance bearing the names of individual women, bought by public subscription, were buried beneath the garden's sundial. The bronze figure in the grotto is by sculptor Charles Web Gilbert, and in 1960 the Quota Club of Melbourne planted a tree here.
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