In 1787, at the time of the First Fleet sailing to Australia, London was considered one of the great cities of the world, but it also had some serious sanitation problems. People lived in such crowded conditions that there was little room for burials and families who could not afford a proper burial would leave their loved one to be thrown into a “Poor’s hole” – an open pit where the bodies of hundreds of paupers were left to rot.
The British settlement in Sydney carried on this ad-hoc burial method at first with people being buried within a mile of the settlement. The Second Fleet arrived in 1790, bringing with it large numbers of sick and frail passengers. This required an urgent response due to more people dying and a burial site at a distance from the settlement was quickly established on a site this is now Sydney’s Town Hall. Within 30 years this site was outgrown and a second site (now the location of Sydney’s Central Station) took another 20 years before it too was full.
Caring for the dying and the dead was largely a community responsibility at this time. People generally died at home, were washed and cared for, relatives and friend would visit the deceased at home while a carpenter or family constructed the coffin. Religious practices were administered at home. Then the deceased would be taken by foot or cart to the cemetery.
With a rapidly growing population and improvement in living standards in Australia, more permanent burial sites were being established. In 1862 the Rookwood Necropolis (‘city of the dead’) was established in New South Wales. The government wanted the site to be cultured and beautiful and originally catered for 9 different religious denominations. Rookwood still operates today, catering now for over 80 religions and is the largest cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere.
It was about the time of the establishment of Rookwood in Australia that Queen Victoria’s husband died (1861). Following his death, Queen Victoria went into a very public 40 years of mourning which has influenced may of Australia’s funeral customs. In the 1880’s Australian etiquette required women to wear mourning clothes made of a black crepe fabric. While there was no prescribed length of time for mourning, it was considered unlucky to keep crepe in the house after the mourning period had finish – requiring new purchases for subsequent mourning periods. Men were expected to wear black gloves are a black band on their hat.
Superstitions were also prominent during this time. Families followed practices to avoid the person’s spirit being trapped or to prevent other people being called to the grave by the deceased person. Bodies were taken out of a house feet-first, clocks were stopped, photographs placed face down and such, all with the hope that the person’s rest would be a peaceful one. Funerals practices grew in extravagance during this period, including the commissioning of grandiose monuments at burial sites. People were eager to act morally and honour their deceased, even if it meant great financial hardship.
These fashions created a new “funeral industry” in Australia. The simple cart was replaced by purpose-built hearses. Professionals offered a multitude of funeral accessories such as coffins, palls and ornaments to adorn the horses and the hearse. There was money to be made from death and this was the boom time.
The First World War (1914 – 1918) stopped all this extravagance and profiteering in its tracks in Australia. For most families during wartime there was no body to physically bury. The huge numbers of deaths and the circumstances at the time, made elaborate funerals seem self-indulgent. More humble death rituals and increasing use of technology became the vogue in the 1920s and 30s.
Cremation was legalised in Britain in 1884 and the first Australian crematorium was built in Perth in 1900 as a public health measure to control infectious diseases such as the plague. A crematorium was built at Rookwood, New South Wales in 1925 and was used more widely as a disposal method. It was not until 1963 that the Catholic prohibition on cremation was lifted.
After the war and the economic depression, the funeral industry needed to shift their image and re-build their business opportunity in Australia. They presented themselves as experts and selected the name “funeral director” for their trade. In a society that was turning away from religion and embracing science, the industry positioned itself as the alternative authority on grieving and death. As less people die at home (due to the increase in hospital care) Australian end of life rituals have almost completely shifted away from the family and community. How would you like to shape the future evolution of caring for our dead?
Major sources:
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/death-the-last-taboo/
Larkins, R. Funeral Rights. Penguin Books 2007
Hughes, R. The Fatal Shore. Folio Society 2006
