Mourners see service on Net
Ipswich Advertiser
Wednesday July 2nd, 2008

MODERN technology is fast coming to the rescue of those who find themselves unable to attend a funeral. Anton Brown Funerals funeral director Phil McDonald used a live streaming internet broadcast to transmit the proceedings of a ceremony across Australia, a first for the company. "Responses from the family were positive right across the board," Woodend's Mr McDonald said.

Mr McDonald uses a camera, a computer, specialised software and a high-speed internet connection to place funerals on computer desktops at home. "Family members who are interstate, who are sick, or can't get out of home, can get on the internet," he said. "It also can save people a lot of money." The service enables family and friends to see and hear a funeral live, as it happens, or on demand for a nominated number of days afterward, with a password-protected system ensuring the privacy of the ceremony.

While the idea of live webcasting funerals isn't new, with funeral homes in the US and UK using the technology, the idea is yet to be widley adopted in Australia, with only a small number of funeral homes and crematoriams having the technology. With the wider availability of wireless internet technology in the past few years, however, Australia may soon be on par with the other countries, Mr McDonald said. "With wireless internet, we can pretty much go anywhere...this doesn't replace people coming to the funeral, instead the technology can actually enhance the funeral, bring together families, if only on-line. It allows people who can't be there to participate." With further development of the concept, it is hoped the installation and operation of the live video streaming will be made easy enough for all crematoriums and funeral homes to run.