Media

Death is a phenomenon like no other. It touches all dimensions of human experience, and I’m trying to understand what it can teach us about who we are, and how we want to live. In this first episode, I explore the rise in home funerals and the growing awareness of death’s environmental footprint. My guests are Bec Lyons, an independent funeral director, end of life doula and a leading advocate for home funerals and holistic deathcare, and Dr Hannah Gould, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Melbourne.

In Episode Seven of Passing Thoughts, Jane Mundy speaks with Bec Lyons, a death doula and educator, about the growing movement of home funerals. Together they explore what it means to reclaim the rituals of death — to slow down, to care, and to find beauty in the final farewell.

Bec shares her experiences guiding families through home-based end-of-life care and ceremonies, describing how intimacy and agency transform grief into something gentle and deeply human. The conversation opens up practical and emotional insights into washing, dressing, and farewelling loved ones at home — acts of love that bring connection back to death.

In the Before We Go segment, Rob Kaldor revisits the acclaimed TV series Six Feet Under — reflecting on how its dark humour and honesty still shape the way we talk about mortality, family, and the absurdity of life itself.

Passing Thoughts is a podcast about life’s final chapter, told with openness, curiosity, and heart. It’s a space to talk about what we usually avoid — because facing death just might help us live better.

This episode features our conversation with Funeral Director and End-of-Life Doula Bec Lyons, from Tasmania, Australia. We chat about her unique approach to death care, emphasizing home funeral service and natural burial methods. We also chat death literacy and reimagining funerals to be more personal and community focused.

A group of friends have gathered for a “death-planning party” to make plans for their funerals and fill out the documents together, to make it a less “daunting” experience.

Organiser Dee Stokes says she wants people to be prepared so loved ones aren’t left with all the decisions, following the “confronting and scary” task of organising her twin sister’s funeral.

Independent funeral director Bec Lyons, who provides information about funerals to the party attendees, says she is flooded with messages about people wanting a similar party.

As a part of NDAN and the advocacy work, Bec Lyons has been consulting with Fiona from Bodalla in NSW as she is setting up what looks to be the first stand alone natural burial site in Australia. She has put years of work and negotiations into this to be able to launch and Bec is heading to see it in person next month!

Our very own, Bec Lyons was pleased to be invited to contribute to the Wicking Trust Round Table put on by Equity Trustees. They have a significant amount of funding to put towards end of life initiatives and wanted a wide input into what the focus of that should be. As you can see there was a lot of data that came from the day and Wicking are working hard to use the results to find the best ways to serve the end of life space in Australia.