Suellen Murray Educational Bursary

Suellen Murray, BPR, LLB, loved the Halifax Public Gardens and walked through on her way to work in the Department of Health each day.  It had particular meaning and joy for her during the three years after her diagnosis of a brain tumour.

Suellen was a graduate of Mount Saint Vincent University (BPR) and Dalhousie Law School (LL.B) She was a Moot Court debater and was named to Dalhousie’s Smith Shield in her year. She captained the Dalhousie Moot Court team which won the Gale Cup, a national Moot Court competition involving law schools from across the country. It was the first Gale Cup win for Dalhousie. In her high school years, she worked with her father at the Dalhousie Multiple Sclerosis Research Clinic, where she set up the Clinic’s computerized patient data base.  The data base is still in use in MS Research.

Suellen was a logical thinker, with a sharp mind and a quick wit. She was an outstanding writer and communicator, a persuasive and articulate public speaker, planner and organizer.  But at the same time, she was a deeply caring, loving and thoughtful person, a delight to be with, devoted to her husband and daughter, her family and friends, empathetic and generous, a woman of great courage and integrity.

In 2014, Dr T.J. (Jock) and Janet Murray, Suellen’s parents, and her husband, Byron Rafuse, established a bursary to recognise her love of the Gardens and to encourage and support educational activities related to this very special space in our city.

Bursary:  $1,500 awarded annually.

To Apply For The 2024 Bursary:

Download the application form here (pdf)

Please follow the guidelines for submission and deadlines as noted.

Selection Process

All submissions will be reviewed, and a final decision will be made by the Bursary Committee
(a sub-committee of the Board, The Friends of The Public Gardens) and the Murray family.

You are invited to donate to the  Suellen Murray Educational Bursary Trust Fund

The funds are invested by The Friends of the Public Gardens and used for the Bursary in Suellen's name for an annual project to support an educational endeavour relevant to the Halifax Public Gardens. An income tax receipt will be issued.

Donate Online

or Interac e-transfer - send to infohalifaxpublicgardens@gmail.com

or send donations to:
Suellen Murray Educational Bursary
Box 36013, 5665 Spring Garden Road
Halifax, NS. B3J 3S9

2020 Bursary Award Recipient

2019 Bursary Award Recipient

Julietta Sorensen Kass, a Masters candidate, Resource and Environmental Management, Dalhousie University, is this year’s Bursary recipient. Her project
Text-A-Tree, one part public engagement, one part academic study, is designed to connect people with nature in cities, testing how technology can help. Fifteen trees in the Gardens were selected for the project; four for their historical connection to the Mi’Kmaq people
and four for their cultural significance to Japan.

Starting with an official event on July 7th, 2019, visitors to the Public Gardens will be invited to converse with nature in a novel way - by texting some of the trees and receiving a unique reply. In addition to the ‘conversational trees’, participants can text their wishes to the beautiful Japanese Katsura tree, an activity honouring Japan’s Tanabata Festival.

Kass states “The results of the activity/study will teach us about public
engagement strategies and could help make decisions about urban forests”.
Once complete, the findings from the Text-a-Tree project will become an
academic paper for Kass, and will be shared with the public through the Friends
of the Public Gardens.

“It isn’t getting back to nature, it’s realizing we never left!!”

For further information on the project visit: www.halifaxtreeproject.com/textatree;
engage online by using the hashtag #TextATreeHalifax; follow @textatreehalifax
on Facebook and Instagram.

2018 Bursary Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2018 Suellen Murray Educational Bursary is Dr. Jonathan Fowler.

Dr. Fowler, an archaeologist at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, is well known for his historical archaeological work, especially over the past number of years at Grand Pre in the Annapolis Valley. His bursary project Public Gardens Archaeological Survey will use geophysical survey methods to detect and map the ruins of a rink operated in the Gardens ca. 1860 – 1890.
Dr. Fowler wrote in his proposal “this structure is said to have been the first covered skating rink in what would become Canada, and constitutes a significant and understudied heritage resource in the Public Gardens”.

Dr. Fowler will conduct his on-site research over in the summer. Once complete, the surveyed map of the old rink’s foundations will be available to the Friends of the Public Gardens, to HRM, and to the Province of NS.

Donate so the Suellen Murray Educational Bursary will continue to support projects which benefit the Public Gardens, as well as the young professionals, students and citizens who receive it.

2017 Bursary Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2017 Suellen Murray Education Bursary was Dr Claire Halstead.

Dr Halstead is a University of Western Ontario graduate with a PhD in History. The Bursary Selection Committee was intrigued by her proposal entitled “150 Years as the Heart of Halifax: A Study on Public Engagement and the Halifax Public Gardens” and especially its relevance to the Gardens in its 150th anniversary year. People were asked to share stories, memories and photographs with her in multiple ways over the summer of 2017. Many of you may have seen the clothesline strung inside Horticultural Hall.  People of all ages took advantage of this particular method to write and share precious memories and reflections on the Gardens and their impact on their lives.

From those shared stories and archival research, Claire has produced an interesting, insightful report which will be shared with Friends and the general public in the new year.

2016 – No Bursary Awarded

2015 Bursary Award Recipient

The first recipient of the Suellen Murray Educational Bursary was Amy Soosaar-Joseph.

Amy is a municipal gardener who oversees the dahlia beds in the Public Gardens and leads the organization of the annual Dahlia Day. The bursary helped her travel to the American Dahlia Society Centennial Show in New York.  Amy took several specimens of dahlias from the Gardens with her and returned with multiple blue ribbons!!  Awards included:

• “Best Waterlily” for the Hollyhill Blackwidow in the new grower category;

• Five Dahlias won first place in the open competition for all of North America: Hollyhill Blackwidow, Cornel, Ivanetti, Tiny Treasure and Camano Puff.

The Story behind the Blue Heron logo          

One morning, Suellen was walking through the Halifax Public Gardens on her way to work.  She stopped at the pond, and noticed that a Great Blue Heron was resting on the island in the pond.  This was quite an unusual sight, so she took a picture and
sent it around to family and friends.

On August 26, 2015, the first bursary was awarded during the 5th annual Dahlia Day celebrations. In announcing the winner of the bursary, Suellen’s mother, Janet Murray,  mentioned the incident of the Great Blue Heron.  Serena Graham Dwyer, volunteer guide and photographer rose to say that the heron had returned to the Gardens that very day.  The heron has taken on a special meaning for Suellen’s family and friends, and was chosen as the logo for the bursary.