INTHEBLACK April/May 2024 - Magazine - Page 49
“We are not going to host a rock concert, but we do host jazz on some afternoons in
summer, for people to be engaged in a way that is non-traditional but still respectful.”
HELEN TUTON, SOUTHERN METROPOLITAN CEMETERIES TRUST
Aquamation, or alkaline hydrolysis,
the process South African Anglican bishop
Desmond Tutu chose, is considered a gentle
and more sustainable alternative to burial
or cremation. It involves placing the body
of the deceased in a pressurised, metal
cylinder in a mix of water and an alkali,
such as potassium hydroxide. The cylinder
is heated to 150°C, which liquifies all but
bone. The bones are typically dried in
an oven then crushed into dust.
Valuable cemetery land is also being
repurposed to enable graveyards to do more
than just hold bodies. In Spain, in the small
city of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, the top
of the grave walls are lined with solar panels
that provide power for up to 60 homes.
In Ballarat, Victoria, a feasibility study
is currently being commissioned to carry
out a similar project, although on a smaller
scale. The solar power is intended to power
the tools, irrigation systems and vehicles
used on site.
In other parts of Victoria, larger changes
are under way. What were once unwelcoming,
overgrown and sometimes spooky places of
mourning are being transformed into spaces
that community members willingly use for
much more than saying a final farewell.
RESPECTFUL RECREATIONAL SPACES
People often think Helen Tuton’s job, as
horticultural assets manager of Southern
Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (SMCT)
in Melbourne, must be depressing and
morbid. Nothing could be further from
the truth, she says.
“People say, ‘that must be spooky, scary
or gross’, but for me, to be in a position with
an organisation that is really championing
the activation of space, and that really
understands that cemeteries are public,
open space, is just great. The opportunities
that cemeteries present are exciting,”
Tuton says.
Cemeteries in Victoria, as in most
of Australia, are overseen and legislated
by state government. The challenge is that
all cemeteries eventually run out of space.
Under Victorian legislation at least, people
are interred in perpetuity.
REDEFINING
MALAYSIAN
DEATH CARE
Innovation in death care is happening
across the globe. In Malaysia, private
funeral and bereavement business
Nirvana wants to redefine death care.
“In Australia, some of the operators
are mainly funeral industry players
who have very little business in
bereavement,” says Jeff Kong,
group CEO at Nirvana. “Australia
is a very different, regulated market
where, in many states, you cannot
have a private operator managing
a cemetery.
“We have funerals and bereavement,
and our bereavement proportion
is much higher than the funeral itself.”
Bereavement care includes
pre-planning, death reporting,
documentation, embalming
and restoration, through to grief
counselling and operation of private
memorial parks.
Nirvana’s market is one in which
pre-planning of funeral and bereavement
processes is becoming more popular.
The average age of the organisation’s
customer is as low as 40, meaning
the organisation has had to innovate around
the expectations of a younger customer.
“People can hedge against inflation
if they’re buying today,” Kong says.
“They also have peace of mind that
they will not burden the next
generation if anything happens to them.
If something happens to them, the family
just places a call to an operator, then
an entire team handles the rest.”
Nirvana cemeteries are landscaped
spaces that exude luxury, balance
and peace. The company’s “columbaria”
– buildings in which funerary urns are
kept – are hotel-style with air conditioning,
lavishly appointed rooms, cafes, prayer
rooms and VIP customer lounges.
READ
an INTHEBLACK
article on why
you should have
a digital will
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 49
