Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden (Adelaide) facts for kids

The Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden is a special place in Park 12 of the Adelaide Park Lands in Adelaide, South Australia. It's a beautiful garden built to honor the amazing pioneer women of South Australia.

A talented landscape designer named Elsie Cornish (who lived from 1887 to 1946) created the garden's look. The main statue in the garden was made by Ola Cohn. This important garden was officially opened on April 19, 1941, by Lady Muriel Barclay-Harvey, who was the wife of the Governor of South Australia at the time, Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey.

You can find the garden's main entrance off King William Road. It's right across from the Adelaide Festival Centre, between the Torrens Parade Ground and the back of Government House. People enjoy this shady garden and its grassy areas for quiet time all year. But for one week every March, it becomes very busy when the Adelaide Festival hosts Adelaide Writers' Week there!

Garden History

The idea for the garden first came up in May 1938. It was suggested by a group called the Pioneer Women's Memorial Trust of South Australia. Two important people from this group, Miss Phebe Watson and the Trust's leader, Adelaide Miethke, talked to the City of Adelaide's Town Clerk, W. C. D. Veale. They wanted to create a "garden of memory." Some people believe this garden was inspired by a similar one in Melbourne, which opened in 1935.

In her plan, Miss Watson wrote about creating a "formal garden" with a sundial and a statue in the middle. The sundial would show time passing. Inside its base, there would be a box holding records from the first 100 years of South Australia. She imagined a garden about 36.5 meters long and 24 meters wide, surrounded by a low brick wall. A long brick path would lead to the sundial.

The plan also included garden beds with beautiful trees like jacaranda and flame trees, and golden poplars in the background. Miss Elsie Cornish was their expert, and her design could be changed if needed. The area behind Government House in Adelaide was chosen for the garden, and plans were made in 1938.

Elsie Cornish and the Trust had some disagreements with the Adelaide City Council about the design until late 1939. The Trust's leader, Miethke, even wrote to the Council to support Cornish's ideas. In the end, the garden was built following Cornish's design. She even planted the first trees and shrubs and built the low brick wall herself.

Garden Design and Plants

The garden has a simple, rectangular shape with a low, pretty brick wall around it. In the very center, you'll see Ola Cohn's sculpture of a female figure, standing on a raised platform called a plinth. Green lawns surround this statue, and there are four garden beds with decorative trees and shrubs around the edges.

Elsie Cornish chose the plants for the garden very carefully, thinking about what each plant symbolized. For example, she picked five Populus nigra "Italica" (Lombardy poplars) to represent the five women of the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Trust. She also used Quercus ilex (holly oak) and Myrtus communis (myrtle) to symbolize protection and love. Lonicera (honeysuckle) was chosen for love, generosity, and devotion. And Syringa vulgaris (lilac) was included to symbolize memory, protection, youth, and tenderness. This shows how much thought the designer put into the meaning of each plant.

Originally, there was an idea to have a "floral clock" in the garden to show the passage of time. However, this idea was dropped because it would have needed too much looking after.

Honoring Pioneer Women

Four park benches face the garden from the west. Each bench remembers a special woman:

• Carol Rowntree
  • 20.07.55 - 15.09.02
  • "Passionate about People, Books and Justice"

• Elizabeth Webb Nicholls
  • 21.02.1850 - 03.08.1943
  • She was a suffragette (someone who fought for women's right to vote), a social reformer, and for many years, a leader of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in South Australia and Australia.

• Colonel Sybil Irving, M.B.E.
  • She was the "Controller A.W.A.S. 1941-1946" (which means she led the Australian Women's Army Service during World War II).
  • She was also an "Honorary Colonel, W.R.A.A.C. 1956-1961" (Women's Royal Australian Army Corps).

• Catherine Jean Cleave
  • 09.02.1980 - 27.08.1998
  • "A caring and joyful spirit who made a difference"

There's also a large memorial on the rise near King William Street, by the path that starts the war memorial walk. This memorial was unveiled on April 20, 1997, by Trish Worth, who was a Federal Member of Parliament for Adelaide. It was put there on behalf of the Council of United ex-Servicewomen (SA) Inc. and their President, Coral E. Farrelly OAM. The artists who created it were Janette Moore and Margaret Worth.

Garden Uses and Events

The Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden is a great place for people to relax and enjoy a quiet break from the city, especially during lunchtime. But it's also famous for hosting the Adelaide Writers' Week every year in March. During this event, many writers and readers gather in the garden for talks and discussions.