Ashes

What to do with ashes?

The short answer is 'pretty much what you like'. Ashes should be collected following the cremation. What then happens to the ashes is personal choice.

Options include:

• scattering
• storage at home
• placement in a niche wall or columbaria (wall which holds cremated remains)
• burial in cemetery or crematorium garden.

* Permanent memorials

While there can be a significant cost involved, many people like to provide a permanent memorial and resting place for their loved one's ashes as they then have a place to visit and remember the deceased.

New niche walls are now being constructed in granite or other stone and these are more upmarket and attractive than the standard red brick walls for ash placement that are seen in many cemeteries and crematoria.

Garden options range from the simple placement in a general memorial garden to specific family gardens of varying size usually with a granite or rock boulder or headstone.

* Scattering of Ashes

Many people opt to scatter ashes but this is not always permitted in a public place as indicated in the following article from the Sydney Morning Herald,  February 28, 2009 , by Geesche Jacobsen:

"Few people realise that they need permission to scatter ashes on public land. And while some of Sydney's icons try to be helpful, others are strongly opposed.
The Botanic Gardens does not allow it "due to the likely high numbers of requests … and the difficulties it causes horticultural staff tending the gardens", says its executive director, Tim Entwistle.
There was also a clear "no" from Centennial Park.
National parks, too, have a policy opposing the scattering of ashes. But later, another spokeswoman told the Herald, they could accommodate the requests of people who felt passionately about it. But, she added: "We have to consider the sensitivities of other visitors … coming across ashes could be very distressing."
At the Lakes Golf Club at Mascot, requests from members of 50 years' standing have been accommodated, while others have been knocked back. And the Sydney Cricket Ground and Football Stadium, have allowed a few families to scatter ashes there.
The families were told the stadium was returfed every year and the ashes might be moved.
Manly and Waverley councils said they tried to accommodate the wishes of the deceased. While there have been no requests to scatters ashes at Bondi Beach yet, Waverley has allowed ashes to be placed in flower beds. A Manly Council spokeswoman said it encouraged families to scatter ashes at sea.
One woman asking for permission from another council to scatter her baby's ashes was told, pointedly: "Don't ask us that question."
"Some people take the initiative and just scatter it very quickly, surreptitiously, late at night," say Tom Sweeney from Macquarie Park Crematorium.
But, suggests Robert Larkins, a Melbourne barrister and author of a book about the funeral industry: "If you get caught it's not a very nice way to conduct a final good-bye." "