The Environment Meditation and Healing Harden (EMHG)

The History

Our Vision, Purpose

The purpose of the Garden is to promote reconciliation between our faith group communities and the earth.

Vernon Bailey was instrumental in the Canberra Interfaith Forum (CIF)’s project to create this garden on a one-hectare site just east of Clare Holland House (The ACT Hospice) in May 2011, after reviewing eight different sites offered by the ACT Government (headed by Jon Stanhope at the time).  It is located at the eastern tip of Grevillea Park.

About 300 indigenous trees, featuring especially Grevilleas, were initially planted in May 2011, in a horse-shoe-shaped garden-bed leaving an open grassy area in the middle where public meetings are held periodically, on issues of environmental protection, social justice, peace, interfaith harmony etc. Several workshops or other gatherings have been held for youth groups associated with our 13 faith groups.

Members of the faith groups have been coming together for monthly working parties on the terrain, mainly to maintain essential weeding; working together helps build interfaith friendships and solidarity.

We have received valuable and strong support also from the Department of Multicultural Affairs and City Services Department, and from Green Army teams and Conservation Volunteers Australia. In recent years numerous indigenous ground-cover plants – matt-rushes, bulbine lilies  etc – have been added, and also some  infrastructure added – seven bench seats, and an access pathway to those  seats under the eucalypt coppice on the lower side of the inner grassland. The ACT Government asked us to plant some eucalypts of the four varieties found locally; 13 have been planted in the ‘outer grassland’.