Ex-Servicewomens Memorial GardenPrint Page 
The garden commemorates the 70,000 women who served Australia in the Navy, Army, Air Force and Auxilliary Services. There are three free-form garden beds that swirl around the historic cairn. These gardens of flowers hold beautiful arrangements of small, white concrete, violet-shaped pavers among the wildflowers.
The original Melbourne memorial to these women, a cairn surrounded by a pretty flower garden, unveiled in 1985, was situated on a site in the King’s Domain parkland at St Kilda Road. But that tucked-away locale failed to acknowledge the roles women played in our war history, while their male counterparts are so dramatically honoured in the Shrine of Remembrance and its reserve.
In 2010, Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance Trustees commissioned landscape architect Katherine Rekaris to create a memorial garden to honour the seventy thousand women who served Australia in every war and peacekeeping endeavour since the South African (Boer) War. The gentle, feminine and moving landscape by Rekaris, in the Shrine of Remembrance Reserve, lies quietly on a lawn to the north-east of the Shrine, adjacent to Birdwood Avenue.
Memorial Garden Article 2012Location
| Address: | Birdwood Avenue, Shrine Reserve, Melbourne, 3000 |
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| State: | VIC |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -37.828351 Long: 144.973149 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Garden |
|---|---|
| Monument Theme: | Conflict |
| Sub-Theme: | Multiple |
| Designer: | Katherine Rekaris |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Saturday 20th November, 2010 |
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Plaque:
This Garden Of Flowers
Is Dedicated To The 70,000
Women Who Served Australia
In The Navy, Army, Air Force
& Auxilliary Services.
The First Servicewomen
Tended The Wounded And Sick
During The Boer War.
From Then On Served
In World War I, World War II,
& In Malaya, Korea & Vietnam.
They Worked In Hospitals,
Fixed Defences, Camps,
Headquarters, Barracks, Ships,
Aircraft, & Underground.
They Were Based In Australia,
Africa, United Kingdom, Europe,
Middle East, India, Ceylon,
New Guinea, Pacific Islands,
Singapore & Japan.
Some Were Decorated, Some
Were Taken Prisoner Of War,
Some Died.
This Garden
Is To Remember Them All
This Memorial Was Unveiled By
NANCY WAKE
George Medal, Croix de Guerre with 2 Palms and Bar ;
U.S.A. Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm ;
Medaille de la resistance ; Chevalier de la Legion d`Honneur,
On 16 November 1985
As Part Of The Sesquicentenary Celebration
Of The State Of Victoria.
It Is Now 150 Years Since Europeans First
Settled Permanently In Victoria At Portland Bay.
Some 40,000 Years Later Than The Earliest
Aboriginal Inhabitants. Various Settlements
Were Established, Including One In 1835,
On The Banks Of A Creek Near The Present Site
Of Melbourne. People Then Began To Arrive From
Many Parts Of The World To Settle In Victoria.
All Ex-Servicewomen Are Proud To Have Played
Their Part In Developing This Heritage.
This Memorial Was Designed & Erected By
THE COUNCIL OF EX-SERVICEWOMEN`S
ASSOCIATIONS (VICTORIA)
AAMWS Association of Victoria
Allied Ex-Servicewomen`s Association
AWAS Association (Victoria)
Middle East VAD Association
Ex-RAAF Nurses` Association
EX-RANNS Association
The Returned Nurses` Club of Victoria
WAAF Branch, RAAFA (Victoria Division)
WRAAC Reserve Association (Victoria)
WRAAF 1951-77 RAAFA (Victoria Division)
Ex-WRANS Association of Victoria
