The custodians of the St Mary’s Star of the Sea Memorial Garden want residents of the Kiama LGA to know their garden is open to the public.

Steve Pearson and Paul Fogarty have tended to the garden next to the church on Fern Street, Gerringong, since it opened in 2016. The idea initially came from Paul’s mother, Bernice Fogarty, who suggested in 2014 that a memorial garden be constructed for the purpose of interring ashes.

Two years later, the garden became a reality with the community's help. Chris Lester from Gerringong Garden Maintenance served as the project manager for the garden’s construction, while Grant Findlay from Unreal Rocks finished the wall with sandstone. Grant also hand-crafted the statue of “Our Lady” which was donated by the Matthews Family to the tune of $5000.

The garden’s concentric circle design was inspired by the Pope’s actual garden located in the Vatican. Prior to the garden’s construction, the area had become overgrown with bushes and weeds, which surrounded the grave of the church’s first parish priest, Reverend Dean Malone, who was buried in 1960 at the age of 94. His grave is now located in the centre of the garden’s concentric circles.

 Paul says the idea to construct the garden came from a lack of suitable burial sites in the area.

“There was nowhere around for anybody to put ashes, a lot of people had them at home and didn’t know what to do with them,” Paul told The Bugle. “A lot of people don’t like the niches in the brick wall in bigger cemeteries, so we’ve come up with a more private one with a beautiful garden.”

The garden has 456 internment plots available to place ashes in the raised garden and a further 200 places to fix memorial brass plaques to the wall. Despite being a Catholic Church, the memorial garden is open to everyone to have their ashes buried regardless of religious affiliation. An individual plot costs approximately $1100, while a plaque costs around $450. Anyone interested is encouraged to contact the Kiama Parish office for more information.