This special garden has been designed to allow visitors and townsfolk, the opportunity for quiet contemplation. It is not a memorial but instead, somewhere to come and gather your thoughts. The garden was conceived by a lady named Elizabeth after she witnessed the courage displayed by the people of the Lockyer Valley during the devastating floods of January 2011. It has been made possible by generous donations of money, time and materials and with the special aid of the Lockyer Valley Regional
MY WHITE ROSE OF HOPE
“Grandma, why is it you call this flower your white rose of hope?”
“Well”, her tearful grandma said, not sure if she could somehow cope
with the answer. “This white rose my dear, sweet child survived a day
when I lost most everything I loved; the rest got washed away.
That day muddy water, meters high, rushed down our little creek
sweeping everything before its path, the strong dear and the weak.
And among the carnage left behind, the one thing that I found,
was the rose bush you are looking at; still standing safe and sound.
Chorus
To me it was a sign of hope that white rose growing there
It proved that life can carry on amid all that despair.
Each day it gave me strength of heart and child it helped me cope.
That’s why this precious flower dear is my white rose of hope.
Then as each day brought its haunting task to want to stay alive
I would take a stroll to see a friend who helped me to survive.
It might sound a wee bit silly, but those moments I would share
with my white rose in the garden gave me hope beyond compare.
It took years to rebuild from that day and start life fresh again,
though the treasures of a lifetime lost still linger and bring pain.
But thank God he gave us memories along with happy tears
and my white rose in my garden they all helped allay my fears.
Chorus
To me it was a sign of hope that white rose growing there
It proved that life can carry on amid all that despair.
Each day it gave me strength of heart and child it helped me cope
That’s why this precious flower dear is my white rose of hope
17th February 2011
©Bush Poet and Balladeer - Merv Webster
After the horrific Grantham floods in January 2011 one lady returned to her home to find it totally devastated and filled with mud and debris. The only thing to survive of any value was a white rose bush in her garden bearing white flowers and she was so moved by its survival that she called it her white rose of Hope.
