Ceremony to remember pregnancy, infant loss

GEELONG Cemeteries Trust will hold its second Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day Ceremony in its purpose-built garden this Saturday, October 15.

The trust held the inaugural ceremony at the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Memorial Garden, located in Geelong Memorial Park, in 2021.

This year’s ceremony will provide families with the important opportunity to remember and grieve their much-loved babies.

Every year, more than 112,000 Australians suffer the loss of a child by miscarriage, stillbirth, or lose their child in the first 28 days after birth.

The garden is the final milestone in the establishment of the Pregnancy Loss Program, which was developed to provide a free service to families who had suffered the loss of a baby under 20 weeks’ gestation and were unable to make formal funeral arrangements.

This program was initiated by Geelong Cemeteries Trust, in partnership with St John of God Hospital, Barwon Health Maternity Unit and Hope Bereavement, to give families the option to have their baby cremated at Geelong Memorial Park Crematorium and then memorialised in the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Memorial Garden.

“Any person affected by pregnancy and infant loss has the opportunity to place a leaf on one of the sculptured trees within the garden regardless of when the loss occurred,” Geelong Cemeteries Trust chair John Mitchell said.

“Geelong Cemeteries Trust encourages those who are experiencing this ongoing love and grief to arrange a memorial leaf, for a place of peace and remembrance to visit.”

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is an internationally recognised day during the month of October, which is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

Geelong Cemeteries Trust invites anyone that has been affected by pregnancy and infant loss to join them for a small ceremony at the garden on Saturday, October 15 at 6.30pm.

The event will conclude at 7pm with the floating of candles in the reflection pond as part of the International Wave of Light – the annual worldwide movement to remember pregnancy and infant loss.