Hearse Month Wrap Up

    Here is a nice breakdown and summary of some of the posts over last month all about the hearse (in order of my most favorite to least favourite):

- The Hearse - Telling them apart -- 11th March 2013
    This is possibly the post I am most proud of in quite a while (despite the length), it hits all the objectives of the blog quite nicely and I felt was a good post overall.  Basically it is a detailed post on how to identify and distinguish various hearses; it looks at important aspects of the hearse in detail (with lots of photos).  So it's a great post for those who wish to understand the hearse better, or even the diversity of the Sydney funeral industry.

http://theothersideoffunerals.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/the-hearse-telling-them-appart.html

- Inside the Lady Anne Hearse -- 29th March 2013
    In this post I look at the hearse in detail, what it is like inside and how it works.  For this I use the Lady Anne Funerals hearse which they were gracious enough to let me take photos with as much as I wanted.

http://theothersideoffunerals.blogspot.com/2013/03/inside-lady-anne-hearse.html

- Guest Post - Meeting the hearse -- 28th March 2013
    Another guest post from DC, in this they discuss their first experience with a hearse and the "dos" and "donts" of driving a hearse.

http://theothersideoffunerals.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/guest-post-meeting-hearse.html

- Possible reasons for diversity in the hearse -- 27th March 2013
    Here I look at a possible reason why the hearse's are so diverse and different in Sydney.

http://theothersideoffunerals.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/possible-reason-for-diversity-in-hearse.html

- The Hearse - in the eyes of the funeral industry -- 15th March 2013
    In this post I explore how the funeral industry perceives the hearse; as in what funeral staff see and think of the hearse.  Their perspective is quite different to that of the public.

http://theothersideoffunerals.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/the-hearse-in-eyes-of-funeral-industry.html

- Symbolism and Significance of the Hearse -- 20th March 2013
    The hearse has a lot of symbolism and significance attached to it, in this post I explore some of that.

http://theothersideoffunerals.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/symbolism-significance-of-hearse.html

    Well I was quite impressed with how this month went, it was my first experiment with having a running theme for such a long time and I think it went well.  Some posts might have got become abstract, or even boring, but I had fun and proved the idea of a theme month is possible.

    If anything it worked better than my regular system, the start of the month was very busy but then the rest settled down and my blog basically ran itself for 70% of the month.  So this is something I will organise more of as uni continues to get busier.  Not next month but maybe the month afterwards.

An~~

Inside the Lady Anne Hearse

    Not long ago we looked at how to tell hearses apart and how to identify a hearse.  As such it's only appropriate that we look at the hearse in detail, explore inside the hearse.

   And it should be nice to end hearse month with another picture based post!

Guest Post - Meeting the hearse

    Here's another guest post, I thought it was a worth sharing another perspective of seeing the hearse for the first time as an undertaker.  To also see what they think are the "dos" and "don'ts" of the hearse; it's always informative to understand how others view the hearse.

Possible reason for Diversity in the Hearse

    Previously I discussed what the public do not look for in a hearse, that generally the public looks at the symbolism rather than the physical appearance.  As such the public have little knowledge in the physical side of the hearse, despite the significance of the hearse.

    I suspect this is the reasons there is such a diversity of the hearses in Sydney.

What the Public Don't See in the Hearse

    In the last post I discussed the symbolism and significance of the hearse to the mourners.  There was no doubt by the end that the hearse is a very important vehicle for mourners.  Yet at the same time there is a discrepancy with what mourners see and what the hearse is.

    Despite the significance placed on the hearse many aspets are overlooked.

Symbolism & Significance of the Hearse

    The hearse has an odd relationship with the public.  On one hand the hearse is seen as highly symbolic, wrapped up in meaning and significance, representing a variety of things from death to tradition.  Yet at the same time the public only takes a short glance at the hearse, looking upon it briefly and noticing little past the colour.

    In this post I look at how the public sees the hearse, from my admittedly limited research into this area.

The Hearse - In the eyes of the funeral industry

    To those within the industry the hearse is such a significant thing, from a thing of pride to part of identity.  It is a complex thing to the funeral industry, and much more than just a transporter of coffins.

The Hearse as a Source of Comfort

    In a way the hearse is a rather important part of the funeral service itself, as the hearse comes to separate and define the different stages of the funeral.  The hearse actually establishes and demonstrates the boundaries, physical and mental, of the stages to the funeral.

The Hearse - Telling them apart

    Those outside the funeral industry (as in those who have never worked for a funeral company) cannot tell hearse's apart.  Even a few within the funeral industry can have trouble identifying different hearses.

    So here is a post on how to identify a hearse.  In this post I look closely at each of the main tell-tale features of various hearses.  From the style of the roof to the wing doors.  After reading this post anyone could easily identify a hearse!

Hearse Month & No Posts This Week

    My ethics stuff is due on the 5th of march, and this is the first week back to uni.  So between that uni work and other stuff I'm a bit busy lately.  As such there won't be any posts this week...  I will instead take this week to really focus on the coming month properly.

    This month will be about the hearse, all posts will focus on the hearse in some way.  Basically in exploring the funeral industry I have found the Australian hearse to be often overlooked.  Well, we look at it, but rarely take time to discuss it in detail.

    It would be very hard to dispute the importance of the hearse for the funeral industry; it's both an emotional symbol and practical necessity.   Despite this I have had issue finding much about the hearse in terms of history on the funeral industry, and the hearse is often left out of contemporary discussions about the funeral industry.  We discuss the rise of cremation, space in cemeteries, merits of embalming, merchandising of funeral home, and more.  So why not changes to the hearse?  Why did the introduction of the duel-cab hearse get ignored?  Why don't we talk about how each funeral home uses a specific brand of hearse as part of its identity?

    The hearse is a vital and inseparable part of the social identity of the funeral industry.  Yet somehow we have separated it from discourse about the funeral industry.  So get ready, I'll be focusing on the hearse all month!  Some posts might get 'theoretical' or 'abstract' as I will be looking at social imagery and theory behind the hearse.  But a few should be practical and fun, and there will be nice pictures!

    A big thank you to Lady Anne Funerals, once again stepping up to the mark and helping to provide quality content for the upcoming month!  From photos to information they are always happy to take time and help out.

An~~

The Day That Hearses Ruled the World

    As part of my dive into the history of the funeral industry in Australia I noticed a lack of information on the Australian hearse.  Which, considering the importance of the hearse, was odd.  As such the next few posts will be focusing on the Australian hearse!

    And what better way to start than with video from a hearse enthusiast group!  Every year 'The Phantom Coaches Hearse Club' hold a fun looking event called 'The Day That Hearses Ruled the World' where basically hearse owners and enthusiasts gather.  It's a great display of vintage and cool American style hearses, and of the enthusiasm people have for the hearse.

    Below are two videos of the event, check them out!

Lack of History About the Australian Hearse

    Recently I put together this short history of the funeral industry, in it I note that there is a serious absence of the hearse.   In this post I discuss this absence of such an important part of the industry.

ESMP open day

    Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park had its open day this weekend.  It was a great day, so much to do and a wonderful atmosphere.  But what made it special was how open and relaxed the staff and company was.

    This was the last public social event for the funeral industry (that I know of).  And it was a great day, a perfect way to end the social calendar for the industry.

Inside the funeral home: Lady Anne Funerals

    Recently I spent a day at Lady Anne Funerals in West Ryde, behind the scenes observing how they operate.  I first met a few Lady Anne staff at the Rookwood open day.  They were quite open to the idea of me going to observe and study their operations.  Rare considering the paranoia and secrecy in most of the funeral industry.

    This is about my day inside Lady Anne Funerals, what I saw and what it was like.  I had a great day and learnt a lot.  Lady Anne Funerals is a wonderful company with great staff.

Rookwood open day Photos

    The open day was amazingly great!  I had a lot of fun and learnt so much.  Everyone was friendly and up for a chat.  There was so much to see and do, I was there from 9:15am to 2:30pm and I didn't get to do everything.




    I'll write a popper post about the day later, when I have time.  But for now enjoy a selection of the 298 pictures I took.

A Personal Death - Another funeral

Front of the order of service.

    With my grandmothers funeral only a few months after my grandfathers we simply stuck with the same funeral home.  It was familiar and convenient and everyone was happy enough with the job they did last time.  The last funeral was not perfect, but not that bad really and the staff were nice.

    This is my experience and opinions of my grandmothers funeral.  It was an 'interesting' event.

Macquarie Park Open Day

    The other day I attended the Macquarie Park Cemetery & Crematorium open day.  It was actually a fairly good day.  Not as much as I would have liked.  But a fun and friendly atmosphere with enjoyable stuff to do and see.

    When I got hope I posted the pictures I took here.  But I didn't have time to explain them.

Funeral Fun - Broken down in the cemetery

    A breakdown is never a fun thing.  Especially in the funeral industry.  Even more so in a cemetery during a funeral!  But this is exactly what happened one hot summer day.

    This is the story of how our hearse broke down in a cemetery, during a funeral, and how a gravedigger came to our rescue.

Funeral Fun - Leaky coffin

    We set off to the crematorium, the regular driver of this hearse was on another job as a car driver.  So today two conductors were in the hearse with me.  Upon arriving at the crematorium we got the coffin out, carried it inside and puit it on the catafalque.

     After placing the coffin down I turned around and saw one or two pinky splash marks on the floor.  I instantly knew they were most likely from the coffin.  They looked fresh and where right where we had carried the coffin.  I immediately told the conductor, who then very subtly went up and felt the coffin.  It was dry around all sides, so if it had leaked it was not still leaking.  Next we went to inspect the hearse.

    Sure enough there was a small puddle in the back where the coffin had been.  The pink and sticky fluid sat there proudly.  Better still it had also slipped through the rollers into the underneath of the hearse (where we kept many handy things such as tables, umbrellas, chairs, and so on).  In other words this fluid was all through his hearse.

    Due to the schedule this hearse then spent the rest of the day sitting in the summer sun.  Nobody had time to clean the fluids out, so they baked on.  When we brought the hearse back to the garage and informed the driver he was not happy.  He always tried to take care of his hearse, always looked after it and felt for it.  So to find it with sticky and not hard pinkish fluids all through made him upset.

    Naturally we all suddenly had lots of work to do and were unable to help him clean the fluids.  But we did pop by every now and then to tell him if he had missed a spot.

    Overall it was a rather funny and unusual event.  Well, funny for everyone except the hearse driver, although even he saw the humour.

~~

Hotdogs Out of Hearses - Serving hot dogs the living will relish

    I came across this interesting little article on Nothing To Do With Arbroath.  The articles is about a car collector who bought a used Cadillac hearse for only $12,000 at an auction (quite cheap actually).  When picking it up he was surprised to discover that there was a coffin inside.  One thing lead to another and he converted the inside of the coffin to a stove and started selling hot dogs out of it.

    What got my attention was when he said "some people take a dim view of this because of the controversy of mixing food and death."  Ie goes on to say that  "I've had a lot more people stop me just to take a picture."  This was interesting to me as it says a lot about how we see the hearse and the coffin as well as death.

    To me (and most other undertakers) there is nothing special about the hearse of coffin.  I see the hearse as just a car and little else.  And the coffin is a cheap wooden box (or sometimes metal) with nothing else to it.  To me a coffin is as special as a table and the hearse is as special as a taxi.  I most certainly do not associate the hearse or coffin with death or anything like it.

    However this is not the same for others, especially those who do not or have not worked in the industry.  From the quote we see that some people do not like the idea of "mixing food and death".  That there is something taboo about this, that people think of it as wrong.  This could be because some associate or at least link the hearse and coffin with death and that food should not be associated with death.

    On the flip side the desire to sell food from a hearse says just as much as the ideas against it.  The idea of mixing food and death (as the article puts it) is novel or strange.  One customer stated that they were "going to tell everyone in the office about this," so clearly to them buying a hotdog here was a story worth telling to others.  It's not because anything unusual or special happened, they bought a hot dog.  We would hardly tell our co-workers about buying a hotdog normally.  But she caught it from a hearse, and this in itself was worth telling for her.  There is clearly a certain novelty about this business, for both the customers and sellers, which is also evident in the fact that this was considered news worthy.  I highly doubt a story about a new hotdog vendor would gather much attention normally.

    Despite this it is clear and understandable that the novelty is only temporary with the business owner saying that "once the novelty goes over, and people laugh, I want the food quality to be tops."  The article follows with "in other words, keep serving hot dogs the living will relish."  The novelty is only temporary, which is expected.  Repeated interactions with most things will make it mundane, only new things are novel.  I also expect it to be a temporary novelty from this business as there is really nothing special about it.  It's no different to selling hotdogs out of a truck as the hearse is just a long car and the coffin is just a stove and table.  So once people by a hotdog or two they would come to realise this, that really it was only a superficial novelty at best.

    Another thing that grabbed me was the taboo of mixing food and death.  Yet we do this constantly at almost every funeral.  Almost all funerals will have food at the end, it is rather unusual not to eat at a funeral.

    This business brings a hearse and coffin to the public, showing how food and death can be directly mixed.  However in doing this it is also saying there is something strange or novel about the hearse and coffin which is untrue in many ways.

~~

Original Article at Mercury News.