Stonehaven

A place of healing and hope

The land at Stonehaven is a place of serene and natural beauty on a bend of the Barwon River - a peninsula with trees to provide shelter, with a natural escarpment to offer protection and of course water that nourishes the land - the grasses, the birds, the wildlife. A place to nourish the soul.

It has been quietly waiting for discovery, for a special purpose, to welcome and heal, to connect with those who will cherish this place as one of hope - symbolising renewal and redemption.

Geelong Grammar School has dedicated this land for the purposes of Healing and Hope following an offer made to the GGS Recognition Committee who have long championed Stonehaven as an active symbol of real and genuine recognition. Stonehaven is the home of Healing and Hope.

Purpose

Stonehaven is intended to be used by survivors and those who have suffered trauma to visit for quiet reflection, to paint, to pray, to draw, to wander, to sit, and at times to gather - an opportunity to share, encourage, confide, laugh and sometimes to cry.

Stonehaven will welcome you - it will be a place of story-telling for survivors, for stories of the land, for stories of suffering, for stories of loss, for stories of survival and it will be a place of acknowledgement. 

Healing activities might include art therapy, retreats for family members of survivors, ceremonies of healing and acknowledgement - bridging what has been for many a long loneliness by coming together.

There will be opportunities for fishing, for bird watching, for nature walks, for plantings, for carpentry - to create a place of harmony and connection. For celebrations and for memorials - Stonehaven will welcome you.

Stonehaven will celebrate the establishment and launch of Healing and Hope - a tangible commitment to our community that they belong and that they are welcome. A dedication to ensuring that as far as is humanly possible, the harms of yesterday are never repeated. 

The land also provides opportunities for use by current students and staff to connect with Healing and Hope to acknowledge the past while complementing the School's expansion of its strategic pillar of Adventure Education in building resilience and reflecting on the values of respect and compassion - for the land and for one another.

Events

Please continue to check in on healingandhope.org.au as activities and events for Stonehaven are planned and launched.

History

According to records, the land was transferred by Allan Campbell Lamb and David Stuart Lamb to John Manifold, Herbert Arthur Austin and William Forrester Volum on 23 November 1939.

The 1939 Prospectus states that John Manifold, H.A. Austin and W.F. Volum were members of the Geelong Grammar School Council.

The property is now held by Geelong Grammar School having been transferred into the School's name on 17 February, 1975.