Why Diane honoured her husband Michael’s death with a natural burial

By Dinah Lewis Boucher

Michael Hart was a child of the woods, says the woman who knew him best: his wife and partner of 54 years, Diane.

"Rupert Bear was his alter ego. He was the boy who never grew up with his grandkids, the natural world was his happy place," Diane says.

After he died, Michael was not embalmed, his body instead was bathed by his son and dressed in a favourite outfit.

His coffin was not plastic lined, instead made of simple cardboard with rope handles — all materials that were biodegradable.

The funeral procession followed the hearse on foot from the family home to the nearby Mullumbimby cemetery as music bellowed from the car.

And, when it was time, his body was placed into the earth just 1.5 metres deep — 4.9 feet — while the service was held by the Hart’s family friend: their neighbour. Read more >>