Prayer Garden

One of the more unique features of the Victoria Truth Centre is our Prayer Garden, known as The Garden of Silence. The garden was the idea of late Reverend Emma Smiley and was dedicated on June 24th, 1952.

The entrance to this special oasis is marked by the wooden swing gate, designed and carved by local artist-carver Ken Bloomfield.

A nearby metal notice asks visitors to respect The Garden of Silence by not speaking. Only once a year when a dedication service is held is speech welcomed beyond the gate.

Once through the gate, the Garden opens up into a gracefully edged lawn bordered and overhung by a fine variety of trees and shrubs including a Japanese maple, a Japanese plum, a weeping crab apple, a hazelnut tree and an arbutus tree.

The sloping property is also home to two pools with a connecting stream, designed and developed by Victoria’s well-remembered landscaper Ed Lohbrunner. Lohbrunner discovered, in examining the site, the slope was underlaid with a bed of flaciated rock which easily lent itself to the formation of the waterway.

For more than fifty years, the Garden of Silence has given pleasure and solace to all who have entered through its gate and accepted its gift of Silence.