Cadia’s garden gift blossoms at domestic violence centre
Newcrest’s Cadia Valley Operations has continued its support of Housing Plus’ Domestic Violence Crisis Centre conducting a Garden Blitz to create a community garden space within the facility.
A team of thirty Cadia employees volunteered to overhaul a section of the Centre, creating a tranquil garden space featuring an Indigenous yarning circle, and a raised vegetable garden for the residents to enjoy. Cadia engaged with the Orange Aboriginal Land Council to design the Indigenous garden and yarning circle.
The yarning circle is incorporated into the body of a platypus, with three paths representing the three rivers which forms Wiradjuri Country, the land in which the garden is built on. Cadia General Manager, Aaron Brannigan said the garden would prove to be a valuable asset for clients at The Orchard. “We are really proud to continue our ongoing support of The Orchard, and we hope the garden, our workforce has created, will provide a positive and peaceful space for clients at the facility.”
“Our team are extremely passionate about helping the community and collectively spent over 166 hours on bringing this project to life,” said Aaron.
Housing Plus’ Head of Community Services, Penny Dordoy added, “The Cadia team have developed a garden that brings The Orchard to life and will delight our clients.”
“We are so thrilled to be able to welcome clients and show them the garden that they can use, learn from, play in and enjoy. We can’t thank all the volunteers and organisers from Cadia enough for their time, effort and passion for the project.”
A planting day is planned for later this year when the Cadia team will return to plant additional trees and shrubs, along with Indigenous plants in the head and tail of the platypus. Newcrest’s latest project is one of the many ways it has shown support for the new domestic violence crisis centre to ensure the facility would be ready for the community in 2021.
In 2017, Cadia provided a $75,000 donation towards the fundraising efforts for The Orchard, and last year, when Housing Plus had to cancel the White Tie Ball due to COVID-19 restrictions, Newcrest provided a further $75,000 to ensure the crisis centre could be completed and open.