On a group of islands off the north-east coast of Tasmania, sole volunteer funeral celebrant Gwen Bailey provides a vital service.
"If someone dies, I'm given a call," the 78-year-old explains.
Standing beside flowers from Flinders Council and the public, Ms Bailey has led funeral proceedings on two of the largest Furneaux Group islands, Flinders Island and Cape Barren Island, since 1995.
She is the only funeral celebrant, and Flinders Council is the sole funeral director for the region.
Death in the Furneaux Group intimately connects the fewer than 1,000 residents to Flinders Council, whose officers become mortuary attendants, mortuary ambulance and hearse drivers.
There is palpable relief, and at times concern, when those willing to take on the important funeral roles put their hand up, or decide not to continue.
Answering the call
When Ms Bailey first volunteered as a funeral celebrant, she mainly conducted services for people older than her.
But that's changed and her customers are becoming closer to her age.
The funeral celebrant sits on a pew of St Barnabas Anglican Church at Lady Barron on Flinders Island.
She holds a Lay Readers licence, granted in 1991.
It was her first step in becoming a funeral celebrant.
"We always had ministers who were rotated every three years and then things became a bit tight and we couldn't afford to have them," Ms Bailey says.
"The bishop came over and had a meeting with us. There were five of us that were willing to go on a ministry team."
Ms Bailey became a lay reader, a person authorised to conduct parts of a church service, then took on the additional task of funeral celebrant alongside another resident who has since stopped volunteering in the role.
"I'm the only one now to do the funerals on the island but I really love it and I call it a celebration of the life of that person we've lost," Ms Bailey says.
"The first one I ever did, I'm sure my knees were knocking."
Emotions are kept contained for the benefit of families and friends.
Ms Bailey avoids looking at children during funeral services, who she says can bring her unstuck.
"I find I can get through a funeral service and not be emotional as long as I have schooled myself," Ms Bailey says.
"Usually, the morning of the service, I pray a lot. I have quiet time. I just sit in the chair in the lounge room and close my eyes and just think of that person and what I'm doing for the family today.
"After a very tough service, I just need to go home and be quiet over a cup of tea. Sometimes I just let it all out. My daughter might come and I cry on her shoulder."
Last year, Ms Bailey began to find it difficult to stand and suggested she retire.
No-one in the ministry team felt capable of taking on the role.
Instead, she was offered a chair for funeral proceedings and a steady arm to guide her up and down stairs.
"If I can keep going for a few more years — I'm 78 — maybe into my 80s and we'll see what happens," Ms Bailey says.
Local government funeral directors
Flinders Council employee Vicki Warden did not grow up on Flinders Island and has no family connection to the Furneaux Group.
It's what motivated her to say yes when she was asked to take on the funeral director role at the council six years earlier.
With one other funeral director, Ms Warden acts as a funeral director, mortuary attendant, mortuary ambulance driver and hearse driver.
Council workers dig and maintain grave sites at two cemeteries on the island.
"We're a well-oiled team when it comes to burials," Ms Warden says.
The council-owned hearse, affectionately named Hermione, is modified to operate as a mortuary ambulance.
"When somebody dies they could die of disease, so we've had to put in a Perspex screen and seal it up with silica to protect the driver," Ms Warden says.
Ms Warden had not worked as a funeral director previously and found the role daunting at first but she is passionate about the work.
"We usually know everyone who has passed away and the families. It's a real privilege to be in the role because when the families come to see us, they're grieving and they need support," Ms Warden says.
"We're looking after our community members and we have the privilege of being the last people really to look after their loved ones."
Community pitches in for send off
Behind the council chambers, a community garden called the Rose Garden is tended by council worker Zeer Parry.
Its creation in 2000 was achieved through community fundraising and prompted by the death of a local woman.
The garden is contributed to and maintained by volunteers alongside Ms Parry, who says it's an important resource in the community.
With no florist on Flinders Island, people rely on private gardens and the Rose Garden for arrangements.
"We have funerals, weddings and special celebrations where people will just come and get what they need," Ms Parry says.
"Two weeks ago we had a wonderful older person, who had spent the last of her days at the multi-purpose centre [health service], who specifically asked if she could have roses from the rose garden for her funeral casket, because she had enjoyed it over the years.
"Her daughter-in-law brought a bunch of native flowers and we put together a bunch of roses and combined it made your heart cry!"
