Memories of the Day

Memorial for Children, Royal Hospital for Women’s Park, Paddington.

In many maternity hospitals in Sydney, jacaranda seedlings were given to parents to mark the birth of a child. This marking of childbirth is the basis of the memorial, a grove of purple and white Jacarandas that change with the seasons, linking and forming an interlocking embrace in the landscape.

A raised spiralling pathway cuts through the grove of trees. The geometry of the path, based on the Fibonanacci spiral represents the idea of perfection, that for a parent their child is perfect.

The pathway acts as botha bench and pathway, the memorial becoming a place of informal gathering, contemplation and play.

The memorial’s focus is a central circular table, a place of reflection and commemoration that invites placement of tokens of remembrance. Inscribed on its rim are the memories of childbirth – Monday’s child, Tuesday’s child, Wednesdays child...