Aust. accepts cheap funerals

Press, 15 January 1982, Page 16

Aust. accepts cheap funerals

PA Timaru Two New Zealanders have found a ready market for their simple, cheap funerals in Australia after one failed to set up an alternative burial service in Christchurch and Timaru.

But a former Timaru publican. Mr Philip Connolly, said that opposition from established and traditional funeral directors in Australia had been vigorous and when he and his partner, Mr Keith Russell, tried to set up shop in Sydney they were threatened with death.

Mr Connolly, a publican for 10 years, read a news-

paper article about Mr Russell’s cheap funeral service in Australia and telephoned him.

“He told me to fly over to Australia. I did that and it grew from there.” He returned to set up Simplicity Funerals but was frustrated by what he called the failure 'of authority to recognise that funerals could be conducted cheaply. So after conducting two funerals in Christchurch and one in Timaru, he returned to Australia and he and Mr Russell, both former New Zealand policemen, are now out to catch 51 per cent of

the Australian market. “We will get it,” Mr Connolly said. They now have five premises, with another ready to open soon in Melbourne, and are looking for a further site in Sydney. The company has a staff of 25 and 17 vehicles.

When he returns to Brisbane Mr Connolly will prepare to open a new branch at Surfers Paradise on the Queensland Gold Coast.

Mr Connolly says their service is aimed at “logical, rational people” and dispenses with the “hypocrisy

that has surrounded funerals for too long. “The sort of people who come to us are those who see death as the spirit leaving the body,” he said.

For this reason the company has dispensed with what it sees as unnecessary additional expenses such as' expensive hearses, embalming, expensive coffins, and expensive funeral rooms. Mr Connolly said his Brisbane business was typical. “It is really just a warehouse with an office. We have a freezer out the back,” he said. All the business is conducted at the dead person's home, the body is placed immediately in a coffin, and the coffin is sealed and put in a freezer. Ordinary station waggons are used for hearses and the attendants wear light blue suits and dark blue shirts. The uniform was decided on by Mr Russell because that was what he was wearing when he conducted his first service. Mr Connelly said he conducts about 30 per cent of services himself, making up a chatty, personal tale about the dead person. The balance of the funerals are conducted by ministers. “The clergy are 90 per cent behind us. They see death very much in a spiritual way and understand what we are doing. In fact, many services are conducted without the body present, more in the way of a

memorial service.” Established funeral directors have put up bitter opposition wherever Simplicity has set up business. Simplicity has discovered that other funeral companies have sent them on false calls. Mr Russell has also been subjected to death threats, including being told when he first went to Sydney that the first funeral he arranged there “would be his own.” But in spite of all this, Mr Connolly says he thoroughly enjoys the work. “It is not a ghoulish job, and in fact I do not particularly enjoy handling bodies. But it is very gratifying, helping a family through the trials of the first few days after a death.” Their business has generated widespread interest, with Mr Connolly and Mr Russell both making several television appearances on current affairs and talk shows. Newspapers have also given their services considerable coverage whenever the company opens a new branch. Just who does patronise the simple, cheaper funerals? About 75 per cent of clients were 50 to 55 years old, well off, and arranging a funeral for a parent, Mr Connollysaid. He has not abandoned plans to start a similar service in New Zealand and says the Australian company will probably return within the next two years.