VISITORS from Taree and Harrington were among 130 guests who witnessed the unveiling by Governor-General Ms Quentin Bryce AC of the bronze statues dedicated to 'a grandmother's love', in Hunter Valley Gardens.
The bronzes form the centrepiece of the Rose Garden and depict Gardens' co-founder Mrs Imelda Roche surrounded by her 13 grandchildren.
The collection has long been a highlight of the now six-year-old gardens, however it was the arrival of several more grandchildren that prompted the commissioning of the remaining statues and their official dedication on Saturday afternoon.
Bill and Imelda Roche, who are also the developers of Harrington Waters, hosted the ceremony which included the surprise unveiling earlier in the day of a bronze bust of Mr Roche at the gardens' entrance.
All the statues are the work of talented young Artarmon artist, Linda Klarfeld, who began the first in the collection six years ago.
Among Taree area guests at Saturday's function were former city mayor Cr Eddie Loftus and wife Narelle, member for Lyne Rob Oakeshott, his wife Sarah and their three children, and members of the Roche family: Mrs Rosemary Roche of Harrington and her son Stephen, along with Mr Darrel Roche and his wife Genene.
Other official guests were NSW minister for Lands Tony Kelly, lord mayor of the City of Newcastle John Tate, Lake Macquarie mayor Greg Piper, and former State treasurer and deputy leader of the government, Michael Costa.
The eldest of Bill and Imelda Roche's four children, Clare Mulham welcomed guests and outlined the story of the Gardens, which began as a vision Bill Roche had while visiting world-renowned gardens in Canada 30 years ago.
Hunter Valley Gardens is his labour of love, she said, now with 6000 trees, 600,000 shrubs and thousands of roses over 35 hectares, which has won a host of Australian tourism awards.
"We questioned your sanity, Dad", she said of the birth of the gardens, "but we can see now that you had a plan for your four children, who between us have produced 13 grandchildren to do the weeding!"
Of the Gardens' location in Broke Road, Pokolbin, she joked: "If it was Broke, Dad has fixed it", referring to the over 200,000 visitors who now flock to the attraction each year.
On a more serious note, she described the Gardens as one of the most beautiful and thoughtful legacies that anyone could ever leave.
"Where you may have raised eyebrows with your dream... your grand plan... you have created a wonderful place for others, away from the bustle of life, a place of solitude and spirituality, a place for families to visit and enjoy."
Imelda Roche explained that her husband's plan to incorporate statues of herself and her grandchildren into the rose gardens "embraced more than our family, being for all grandmothers."
She paid tribute to sculptor Linda Klarfeld who has also completed commissions for Macquarie University, the Australian Ballet and overseas collections, as well as more recently the lifesized bronze of renowned cardiac surgeon, the late Dr Victor Chang, unveiled last year by Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.
Mrs Roche said it was no mean feat for the sculptor to meet with 13 small, lively children and capture their images and spirits for a series of statues which she said "perfected them in every detail".
Governor-General Ms Bryce congratulated Bill and Imelda Roche for creating "an exquisite landscape... a place to truly delight in, to wander and savour its poetry and peace".
She described the Gardens as "a paradise blooming all year round" and the spectacular rose garden as a special place conveying messages from the heart.
As a grandmother herself, she relished the spirit of a grandmother's love as one of the greatest happinesses of her life.
"Being a grandmother changes your heart, your sense of what life is all about. It encompasses a grand love, a twinkling in your eye. There is nothing in the world I would rather be.
"For me, being a grandmother is about slowing down, about smelling the roses, and this wondrous garden is one where all of us can slow down, contemplate, and enjoy these statues that tell the story of a grand love."
Saturday's unveiling also marked the start of the Hunter Valley Gardens' month-long Rose Spectacular, a sensory explosion of sight and fragrance featuring the 35,000 rose bushes and up to two million blooms.
It will be followed by the Christmas Lights Spectacular, the third year in a row that the Gardens have been lit up at night, benefiting charities.
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