Dandelion MemorialPrint Page 
The "Dandelion Memorial" commemorates infants lost during pregnancy.
At the most recent Pregnancy and Infant Loss Memorial service held at twilight 15 October 2017, a sculpture was unveiled by the Honourable Mark Speakman, New South Wales Attorney General, however there was no sculpture.
On the evening, the CEO for the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust that has responsibility for Woronora Memorial Park, Mr Graham Boyd, advised the many hundreds of those present that the cemetery was in the process of creating a special new memorial that would be called “The story of the Dandelion, a story of spiritual hope”. On the night, Graham Boyd asked the Attorney General Mark Speakman to have vision as he cut ribbons releasing balloons. Those ribbons were attached to the words cast in bronze that were to go with the sculpture, rather than being attached to the girl with dandelion statue. The balloons, like dandelion seeds, had characteristics that went with the words on the memorial.
This reads in part: “The seeds within yesterday’s existence provide spiritual flowers beyond understanding. Carried to places we know not where…” Similarly the small number of balloons released by the Member for Cronulla were like dandelion seeds being blown on the winds.
The Dandelion girl sculpture and words have now been installed in a special garden area called “Abelia”, where several hundred babies have been laid to rest over many decades at Woronora Memorial Park.
Location
| Address: | 121 Linden Street, Woronora Cemetery, Abelia Garden, Sutherland, 2232 |
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| State: | NSW |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -34.033312 Long: 151.054189 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Monument |
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| Monument Theme: | Culture |
| Sub-Theme: | Community |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Sunday 15th October, 2017 |
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Woronora Memorial ParkDandelion Memorial
Officially opened by the Hon. Mark Raymond Speakman SC, MP NSW Attorney General on 15th October 2017
Anthony C Simpson LLB Chairman
Graham A Boyd Chief Executive Officer
The Rainbow Dandelion
A child picked dandelion flowers as a gift... I cried at the beauty of the gift, given with purity, joy, love , hope, and innocent, smiling giggles. Those dandelions began as seeds blown on the winds, dying to the old to create special beginnings. Transforming from life as a seed to a different life. The seeds within yesterday`s existence provide spiritual flowers beyond understanding. Carried to places we know not where, always surrounded by the timeless love of God.
Eons ago the rainbow was gifted after the flood. It broke forth as a symbol of a new and brave beginning which needed a visual sign of reassuring hope, at a time when the old had been washed away. The rainbow was a gift and a promise. Genesis 9 verse 13 - 15 : "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind."
A child has been sculptured here with dandelions. The dandelions are symbolic of our spiritual journey, imagined if you will with blooms of rainbow colours, to represent hope. Hope given long ago after a great turmoil involving life that showed both promise and gift associated with that which passes: the fragility of the veil between what we know and hope provided by God in existence beyond death. The dandelion seed is tossed in the winds with a legacy. A message that death is not the end. Hope has been gifted for new life even when what had been is washed away. When you next see such flowering miracle, see the beauty of the dandelion and remember the hope displayed within the rainbow and the journey of love within the real yet unseen spiritual winds that lift and swirl around life. Winds, which carry to transformation and new beginning beyond the existence we have known, to existence in spirit.
