13 hours ago
Preservative chemicals to winged eyeliner: How embalmers bring dignity to the deceased
Unlike the image often conjured of embalmers — "the creepy guys down in the dark, dungeon mortuary" — Luan Murray sees her job as offering a service to people who are grieving the death of a loved one.
On any given day, the mortician from Wollongong will perform body preparations on anywhere from three to 12 deceased persons.
"Families still want to say their goodbyes to that person. So if I can make it just that little bit better and give back to the family, that's my purpose."
Embalming is the process of preserving a body by means of the removal of some of the body fluids and arterially injecting the body with special embalming fluids.
For Ms Murray, the focus with embalming is ultimately to sanitise, deodorise, preserve and restore a deceased person.
"The majority of the scientific magic is done from the inside out," she said.
The artistic side of embalming materialises in the external part of the process.
Waxes and over-the-counter cosmetics are applied, colour wheel knowledge is considered, and occasionally, specialised mortuary makeup is used for traumatic cases where imperfections are trying to be hidden.
"When we get a trauma case in, we like to ask the family for photographs to see if there is an attempt we can make to restore that person," Ms Murray said.
The level of preparation of a body exists on a scale and comes down to the deceased's last wishes, a family's desires, the condition of the deceased, legal requirements and cultural or religious reasons.
It goes from basic preparation — which includes cleaning of the deceased, closing their eyes, suturing the mouth shut and dressing them before placing in the coffin — to full embalming.
Sometimes reconstruction is necessary in cases where there has been significant trauma.
In NSW, full embalming is required by law if the deceased is being sent overseas on a repatriation by air travel.
It is also mandatory if the deceased is being put into an aboveground burial such as a vault or mausoleum.
Crypts of this nature range in price — for example, the Mary of Assumption crypts at Frenchs Forest Bushland Cemetery can be priced from $54,000.
Sandra van der Laan from the University of Sydney co-authored a report that investigated death care and funeral industry.
Professor van der Laan said while mausoleums were not exclusive to any single cultural or ethnic group, they were often chosen for cultural or religious reasons.
"They've been around in Sydney cemeteries since 1800 or similar. Some religious communities prefer aboveground burials, for example, the Catholics or Maronite Christians — it also allows families a legacy to be interred together," she said.
"The majority of the population do not like to discuss funerals and burials and what happens after people die. It's sort of a bit a taboo subject."
Since Ms Murray was little, she has been curious about death.
"It's a part of my daily life now. I don't take anyone or anything for granted," she said.
Although the prevalence of death has been completely normalised throughout her 30 years in the job, it's not to say there aren't hard days.
She said the hardest cases had always been the relativity of the age of the deceased person in relation to her children's ages.
"When my kids were babies, it was seeing infants come into the mortuary, then toddlers, then young children, right up to mid-20s now, like my children's ages currently," she said, noting that any deaths brought about through violence also have an impact.
"It's hard work, but I feel comfortable talking about death and grief.
"It's given me a better appreciation for the fragility of life."
