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Full range of certified funeral directors

Full range of certified funeral directors

Over the 20 years running our organisation, support from funeral directors has come most from those with progressive and customer-focused ideas. The Funeral Directors Association, and many older funeral directors tried to stop us by raising nonsense doubts over things like health and safety.

Our first major supporter was Simon Manning, founder of Harbour City Funeral Homes. In 1989, when he was 24, he started a funeral director service breaking away from the old pattern and determined to deliver what customers wanted. Open-minded, trend-watching and entrepreneurial, Simon, now semi-retired, treated us and the concept seriously. He supported us to Wellington Council, encouraged customers, and bought the first caskets we had to make because no other coffin maker would.

In the early days, as natural cemeteries were slowly and warily being added by Councils working with us, it was the modern and often “break away” Funeral Directors who gave their support. Old school funeral homes were politely not interested. This has never bothered us, as our key principle is choice. If people want old style funerals, and steel caskets in rows of deep graves or mausoleums, they should be able to – and they ought to have experts who can help them.

So for many years the funeral directors we certified were largely younger and “modern”, offering the new trend of “personalised funerals”. Major supporters in this group State of Grace in Auckland, who were part of an informal group of individuals like us, interested in the early 2000s in the fledgling global ‘natural death’ movement. We are also in gratitude to Fiona King, who started the innovative Broadbent and May Funeral Directors in Wellington.

By the late 2010s, natural burials was firmly established and not going away. Nothing shows this more clearly than our collaboration with Carterton District council on a natural burial Totara Grove at Clareville cemetery in 2017. Locals such as the social reformer Helen Dew pushed the Council, but what stood out as different from previous efforts was the support of Richmond Funeral Home. Peter and Jenny Giddens run the only full funeral home facility in the South Wairarapa, based in Carterton. They were one of the first to shift and fuse “traditional values” with personalised funerals.

So now the public has a range of choices in funeral directors certified for natural burials. All certified directors are guaranteed to offer natural burials and respond positively to requests for related personalised services. But every funeral director has their own style, and there is one to fit every family who wants a natural burial.

Contact us for advice on the one closest and best suited to you: 0800 525 500 or info@naturalburials.co.nz.

Full range of certified funeral directors

Family run funeral: photo essay

A family that managed their own natural burial sent us photos that show how they did it.

We’re very grateful for this insight into their private event, because of the confidence it may give others to get more involved even in small ways in their own family funerals.

Family run funeral: photo essay

South Wairarapa’s own FD

We certified Richmond Funeral Home for natural burials in 2017, when we collaborated with the Carterton District Council in setting up the Totara Grove natural burial zone at Clareville Cemetery.

Richmond was extraordinarily receptive and supportive of the concept from the outset. This was critical to the success of the natural cemetery as it is the only full funeral home facility in the South Wairarapa based at Carterton.

Peter and Jenny Giddens are proud to fuse modern trends with it long standing community history, offering personalised funerals with traditional values.

South Wairarapa’s own FD

How one family managed a DIY natural burial

A family-run burial under a tight timeframe.

A family says advance organization and some luck was required for a family-managed burial of their mother within a tight timeframe at Makara natural cemetery. 

The mother died on a Thursday evening at Mary Potter Hospice, and the only burial slot available was on Saturday morning – giving 24 hours to organize the death certificate, book the plot and service location, and let everyone know.

The son, Tomlin, says that since you cannot book ahead for death, the key is to know the plan when it happens.

“Our family has experience in managing burials ourselves, so we were confident when Mum said she wanted the same, for a burial at Makara Cemetery.

“Though she lived in Coromandel we were fortunate that she could get to the hospice in Wellington when she fell very ill. We had time to plan, because we wouldn’t have time when she died.  

“We got a casket from Return to Sender before she died, because that’s something you can’t get in a day if you’re doing the funeral yourself.  

“When she died after two weeks at the hospice, we knew the round of calls we needed to make; to book the grave to be dug, the venue for the funeral service and wake, and who needed to be informed.”

Tomlin says a challenge arose immediately when they discovered the only available time for the burial was mid-morning Saturday. The Council digs the grave, supplies boards to stabilize the grave edge and ropes for lowering the casket, and tidies up after the family fills in the grave and leaves.

“We had to move even faster than planned. We were lucky that the Hospice staff were so knowledgeable and helpful. They took care of the death certificate and other paperwork. We had to reach out wider for a service venue, and Old Saint Pauls in Wellington city was very accommodating.”

Another challenge was the Kowhai sapling Mum had chosen to have buried at the head of the grave. One couldn’t be moved from the Wellington nursery to the cemetery that day. Fortunately the Council found one they could get to graveside in time.    

Tomlin says the experience showed that people should be prepared to think ahead and outside the box when under time pressure and managing the funeral service yourself.

“In hindsight we should have had the Kowhai ready and on hand, just as we had casket.”

Although an advance visit to the cemetery had been planned, the circumstances prevented it. But Tomlin and the mourners were impressed with the site.

“The one thing you can’t plan is the weather, but luck was with us. It was a good day, and the cemetery was beautiful – everything Mum and we hoped for. She was a keen gardener and helped set up a nature reserve in Island Bay. A grave amongst the bush regenerating at Makara made sense to her. And for us at graveside, the natural burial was a loving tribute to her.

How one family managed a DIY natural burial

Wairarapa Funerals now certified

We’re pleased to announce that Wairarapa Funeral Services are now certified by us for high quality conduct of natural burials.

The team are enthusiasts, and have already helped families this year with natural burials.

Traysea French, one of the funeral directors, says the company understands why people love the concept.

“What moves us most about natural burials is the way you can truly be part of the journey. Lining the grave with flowers, greenery, hand lowering and replacing the earth on and around your loved one (versus a stranger) can help embrace people’s grief journey in a healthy way, creating meaningful final acts of love.

She says natural burials are multi-faceted. “It’s not only about sustainability; it’s about connection, care, and returning to the earth that has sustained us through life.

” Preserving land by restoring native bush and forests; natural burials help create living, breathing places of peace, as well as conserving and supporting our ecosystem. Loved one’s can visit, reflect, and know their person continues to nurture life.” Traysea says.

The Wairarapa is fortunate to have a natural burial section in Clareville Cemetery, just 15 minutes down the road from Masterton.

Picture: Wairarapa funeral service directors; Traysea French, Rob Milne, Trixie Duckett

Wairarapa Funerals now certified

Two sides to memorials

by Mark Blackham

At the Kew Cemetery in Melbourne, I went searching for my ancestors’ graves. I found the grand memorial to my great-great-grandfather, John Halfey — a goldminer, financier, and politician. His grave is the largest monument in the cemetery, an imposing stone column and angel. Also buried there are his wife Annie, and three of their nine children. One died aged ten drowning while swimming in the Yarra River. Sorrow does not respect wealth. 

A few rows away, I found the plot of my great uncle and his wife. There was no headstone, no inscription — just an empty space and a scraggy shrub.

I cannot deny disappointment at the empty space. I was denied a literal touchstone with my past. The Halfey memorial allowed me to physically feel the family’s life and prominence. 

The emotional contrast between the two graves confronted a central tenet of the natural burials concept; not to add anything synthetic to the landscape. Memorials should not be lasting artificial structures. The memorial to the deceased is the natural area that remains and lives.

Some people worry about the impermanence of wooden memorials. When we first posed the natural burial idea to the Ministry of Health over 20 years ago it was opposed, citing people complaining about not being able to find ancestors graves at old cemeteries due to broken and missing memorials. Minor annoyance to descendants is not a strong reason to deny an individual their wish for a green burial!

The reality is that after five years, the number of visitors to a grave falls below one per year. But during those early years, there are visitors, and they’re grieving. They want something to stand in for the physical person who recently left us.

That’s why we invented the idea of the wooden marker. It is there when needed and will have decomposed when it ceases being needed. We found though that untreated pine fell apart within 18 months. So we use H3 treated pine so it lasts the length of the surviving family members.

Standing in Kew cemetery I realised stone endures way past immediate family members, but (and so) its meaning fades. There is no point in all that stone being there every hour and day of the week, waiting for occasional visits like mine. The cemetery records listed my relatives deceased in the grass plot just that same as those in the memorialised plot.

A far better memorial is a living one. Natural cemeteries are living organisms, feeding and harbouring life continuously – unbroken – no matter who visits. And when visitors do arrive, they are greeted by trees, insects, and bird song. The shrub growing above the unmarked grave at Kew was supporting life, not dead memories. When you stand graveside at a natural cemetery, you stand among your ancestors, and the life they stimulated. There is no better memorial.

Two sides to memorials

Natural cemetery prices

We’ve compiled the 2025 list of natural cemetery prices, combining the plot and interment costs (price of the land, and price of digging and filling the grave).

The average cost of a natural cemetery plot is $4,075 (excluding extras such as weekend interments).

The most expensive sites are in Fairhall in Marlborough ($7596) – though admittedly a lovely location, and Waitkumete in Auckland ($6590) – a heavily landscaped zone.

The cheapest sites are in Taupo ($1455) – overlooking a deep forested valley, and Buller ($2292).

For the full list, see this page.

Natural cemetery prices

Public talk in Carterton 30 April

Our founder and director Mark Blackham is speaking in Carterton on 30 April about the courage required to start and drive the natural burials movement in NZ over the past 25 years.

Mark’s free public talk is part of a Courageous Leadership series run by the Tū Hauoranga Trust.

All are welcome to the event at the Carterton Events Centre, 5:30pm, 30 April.

Free tickets are here

Public talk in Carterton 30 April

Waikanae funeral home certified

We’re very pleased to announce that the Waikanae Funeral Home has been certified by us for natural burials. The whole team are enthusiastic about the concept, and demonstrated ability to able to handle all aspects, from body preparation to burials, and family personalisation of the funeral. They have a range of natural caskets and shrouds available and facilities for longer pre-burial preparations. We highly recommend them.

Waikanae funeral home certified

How to make a shroud

We have seen a considerable increase in inquiries about using shrouds, and an increase in their actual use.

They are a wonderful DIY project for yourself or for a loved one, and add dignity and natural aura to a burial. Patterns have been graciously made available here: https://cindea.ca/shrouds.html

Or you can buy beautiful shrouds from people experienced in the combination of beauty, natural fabrics, practicality and strength, required of shrouds. Two options are are many variations available from ake ake shrouds, and the simpler format at return to sender.

You can use shrouds as carriers of the body, in which case carrying handles are recommended. For shallow burials, lowering is a very physical exercise. It is made easier if a base board is used outside or inside the shroud, and the body lowered using straps tucked through handles and under the board. They are be recovered by pulling out, or remain inside the grave.

Image from Ake Ake Shrouds.

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