You n’ Taboo
Encouraging death literacy and conversation within the community
Solace- End of Life Services
Funeral planning, Home Funerals in Tasmania
Australian Home Funeral Alliance
The following is taken from the Australian Home Funeral Alliance –
A Home Funeral is possible in Tasmania. A person is required to register the death and generally to
have completed the disposition of the body within 30 days. A home funeral can be where you live,
but it does not have to be.
FAMILY LED FUNERALS
If your person dies at home and a doctor agrees to complete a ‘Medical Cause of Death Certificate’
(MCOD), your person can stay at home. If the death occurs outside the home and a doctor agrees to
complete a MCOD, your person can be transported home once either a ‘Declaration of Life Extinct’
(DOLE) form or a MCOD is complete. If it is a DOLE form, the doctor will then complete the MCOD
within 48 hours.
Whether you are at home with your person or spending time with them at their place of death, e.g.,
a nursing home, you are able to provide the after-death care for your person, washing and dressing,
shrouding or encoffining them, etc. If at home, you can keep your person with you in your home for
several days. In Tasmania, there is no prescribed length of time. General consensus in the Home
Funeral movement suggests that 3-5 days is a reasonable time to keep a body at home without any
outward signs of decomposition being present, depending on the manner of death.
Sometimes, a family may want to spend time with their person but not want to conduct the logistical
and administrative functions or the hands-on care of their loved one. All of this is possible. It is
important to note that families and communities can be involved in all of these processes as little or
as much as they feel comfortable.
There is a requirement under Tasmanian Burial and Cremation Regulations 2015 to maintain the
temperature of the body at 5 degrees Celsius or lower. This is perfectly possible in a home setting,
and there are various options available to do so. The use of a cooling bed or blanket, a cuddle cot for
a child, ice packs, dry ice or Techniice, in conjunction with portable air conditioners where necessary
to assist in keeping room temperature cool, are all options available to Tasmanians. If this cool
temperature is maintained, then you are not required to place the care of your loved one into the
hands of a mortuary or into refrigeration.
You will be required to register the death with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. This and
the Application for Search (which produces the Record of Death for you) can be completed and
lodged at Service Tasmania. You will also be required to complete a Burial and Cremation Permit
(which may be available to you from the Crematorium Management) and then to make a booking for
either burial or cremation and eventually transport the body to that place.
Regardless of how much time you would like to spend with your person or the type of care you
would like to give, there are Home Funeral friendly funeral directors in Tasmania willing to work with
you in a flexible way to ensure your wishes are fulfilled.
Advanced Care Planning Australia
Australian Center for Grief and Bereavement
Care Search
Compassionate Communities
End of Life Directions for Aged Care
The place for people working in end of life and palliative care to meet, share and grow their
networks.
Offers support for bereaved parents, online, face-to-face, or over the phone.
An environmentally friendly and personalised alternative to coffins/caskets.
Daisybox Cardboard & Wicker Coffins & Caskets
Supplies shrouds and garments for the dead.
Community Coffin Club
An initiative of Care Beyond Cure Inc, where individuals or family/friends, can make a coffin for
themselves or a loved one. Access to all equipment, a mentor and support are provided. Materials
are to be supplied by the individual.
Tasmanian Law Handbook
Alluvium Water Cremations
Alluvium Water Cremations, the forefront of environmentally friendly cremation services. Established
in 2023, we are proud to introduce a revolutionary alternative to common flame cremation methods:
water cremation.
Alluvium Water Cremations recognise the growing importance of sustainable practices in every
aspect of our lives, including end-of-life choices. With a passion for informed choices in death that
reflect the values held in life, we have embraced this responsibility by offering a more sustainable
solution that minimises our impact on the environment.
Geeveston Natural Burial Ground
Once in a Lifetime Toolkit – UTAS
“This toolkit was developed for families and carers to gain the skills and resources to promote choice
and control for people with intellectual disability in end of life. This is to empower people with
intellectual disability to be actively engaged in making their own end of life decisions and be involved
in other death related experiences throughout life.”
Cl End of Life Essentials – Funded by the Australian Government Department of Health
This website offers a wonderful range of tools and education for those involved with end of life care.
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
The ACSQHC have en extensive library with a section on end of life care which can be found here –
Palliative Care Network of Wisconsin
This is a fact sheet on what to expect when someone is dying.
