As part of the Two Fires Festival the Braidwood Urban Landcare Group will proclaim the Judith Wright Gardens this Sunday with an opening ceremony, planting and community lunch alongside Flood Creek at the end of Garvey St. (by the Golf Course) and overlooking the Flood Creek footbridge.

Coordinator of the Braidwood Community Gardens Annie Duke said in the centenary of Judith Wright’s birth she was pleased to honour such a significant poet and activist in the fields of environmental protection and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights.

“We had been thinking about naming this park for some time and very happy to do so a century after Judith’s birth and during the Two Fires Festival which honours her art and activism,” Annie told the Braidwood Times.

Aboriginal Elder Noel Butler has meanwhile called for the planting of trees in the new park to recognise the settler families who founded the township of Braidwood.

“Acknowledgement and recognition go both ways and I would love to see a tree planted for every one of those families as a way of recognising that they were the founding families of the township of Braidwood,” said Noel Butler. “It’s a gesture of welcome to our country to those pioneering families.”

“It’s a step forward, it’s an acknowledgement of each other; our people who have been here for tens of thousands of years and of the new people who make this their home now. 

“We want to share our country and our knowledge and the history of this place; both good and bad,” he said. “Everybody gains from this. It’s a step forward to having social harmony and a better community for our kids and grandkids.”

“It’s taken a long, long time, but now is a time of healing.”

Annie Duke welcomed Noel Butler’s suggestion. 

“We are looking forward to working with Noel on his wonderful, generous idea because it fits in beautifully with our concept of this project as being about a place of shared culture.

“We are very keen to work with Noel and his family and the original pioneering families to turn Noel’s vision into a reality but we need to implement this gesture properly.”

The naming of the new garden will take place from 12 – 2.30 this Sunday. Hot food will be available and sales will raise money for the Braidwood Community Gardens and Braidwood Fruitclub.