A new remembrance garden and indigenous healing garden is to be built at Katoomba Hospital, courtesy of Blackheath Rotary.
The club is raising money to renovate and rejuvenate the old memorial entrance to the hospital to incorporate the new gardens which will recognise all soldiers who fought and died for their country.
Eddie McCoy and Larry Howard from Rotary met with local elder Aunty Sharyn Halls and members of the hospital's reconciliation committee last week to talk about the design of the new garden. One of the key elements will be the use of native plants from the Upper Mountains area.
The garden will also incorporate seating to provide a calm and restful place for hospital visitors.
A major fund-raiser for the garden will be held on Sunday week (April 26), with the Anzac centenary golf classic at the Blackheath Golf Club.
The golf day will include a shotgun start at 9am, lunch, and an auction during the afternoon culminating in an Anzac dusk service at 5pm.
The service will include an address by Lt Col Peter Sweeney (retired), music from the Blackheath Public School choir and the Lithgow Highland Pipe Band and the playing of the Last Post.
Non golfers are welcome to join the celebrations at any stage after the golf.
The Rotary club, in conjunction with the hospital, will mark the start of the new commemorative gardens with a "turning of the sod" on Wednesday, April 22 before to an indigenous reconciliation ceremony to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli landing.
The new gardens will be designed with the assistance of James Masters from Masters Landscape by Design, which has been operating in the Mountains for more than 20 years.
