Funeral Services

At Gentle Hand Funerals, we believe that empathy, compassion, professionalism, transparency, and personalisation are the core qualities that distinguish us from larger firms.

What to expect

We offer comprehensive funeral services across a wide range of cultures and communities. Gentle Hand Funerals is strategically located to provide cremation and burial services throughout the Sydney Metropolitan area, as well as the South and North Coastal Areas, Newcastle, and selected regional areas.

Consultation Call

The first step is to contact us at 0408 284 208 for guidance or assistance. We are available 24/7 to support you.

In our Care

Once we confirm the location of your loved one, we will arrange their transfer into our care.

Meeting with you

We will arrange a convenient time to meet with you to complete the necessary paperwork and discuss the funeral arrangements.

Organsing Everything

After selecting all the essentials for the funeral or memorial service, Gentle Hand Funerals will manage the details, giving you the space to grieve and be with your family.

Religious Services

Religious services are ceremonies that incorporate spiritual rituals and traditions, providing comfort and honouring a loved one's faith during their funeral or memorial.

Non-Religious Services

Non-religious services are personalised ceremonies that focus on celebrating the life and legacy of a loved one, without religious rituals, allowing for a more secular and individualised tribute.

Repatriation

Repatriation is the process of returning a deceased person to their home country or place of origin. This service includes coordinating legal documentation, transportation, and care of the deceased, ensuring a respectful and smooth journey for families during a difficult time.

Italian Speaking

Fluent in Italian, offering compassionate and personalised funeral services for Italian-speaking families, ensuring their cultural traditions and preferences are honoured.

Memorial Services

Memorial services are gatherings held to honour and celebrate the life of a loved one, typically without the presence of the deceased. These services can be personalised to reflect their life, values, and legacy.

Twilight Services

Twilight services are evening ceremonies held in the soft light of dusk, offering a serene and intimate setting to honour and remember a loved one.

Direct Cremations & Burials

Direct cremations and burials are simple, no-service options that focus on the respectful handling of a loved one without a formal ceremony, providing an affordable and straightforward choice for families.

Pre-Need Arrangements

Pre-need arrangements allow individuals to plan and personalise their funeral in advance, easing the emotional and financial burden on loved ones and ensuring their wishes are honoured.

Unique Funerals Escorts

Unique funeral escorts provide personalised transportation options, such as motorcycles, sport cars, trucks, boat, horse and carriage, the batmobile, or vintage cars, adding a distinctive and meaningful touch to a loved one’s final journey.

Cremation Urns & Jewellery

Cremation urns and jewellery offer elegant and meaningful ways to honour a loved one, providing keepsakes to hold ashes or memories close.

Casting

Castings of plaster are a unique way to preserve handprints, footprints, or other personal impressions, creating lasting mementos that capture the essence of a loved one.

Memorial Plaque QR Biography

A Memorial QR Biography is a digital tribute that links to an online page, allowing family and friends to access a biography, photos, videos, and memories of a loved one, providing a lasting, interactive remembrance.

Services

Funeral Pricing

For more information about Funeral Pricing and cost agreements, please read the Pricing Disclosure. If you have any questions or would like to make arrangements, please contact us via the form on our Contact page.

Read Pricing Disclosure

Funeral and Burial Processes

Cremation Process

Planning a cremation involves several steps, and we are here to make the process as smooth as possible.

Burial Process

We offer two types of burial services to honour your loved one in the way that feels most meaningful: Traditional Funeral Service and Non-Traditional Service.

What should I do first if my loved one has passed away in the hospital?

A death in hospital may or may not have been expected. Whether the person has died from a chronic (ongoing) illness or a sudden event, hospital staff are available to answer any questions or explain anything you don’t understand. You should feel free to stay at the hospital with your loved one until you feel the time is right to leave. Let the hospital staff know when you are ready to go. The hospital will care for your loved one until arrangements have been made with your chosen funeral director. When death occurs in a hospital, the staff will ask for details of your chosen funeral director. If a funeral director has not been selected, you can advise the staff, and you will contact them when a decision has been made. If a funeral director has been chosen beforehand, the hospital staff may call them for you if you wish. The doctor will advise you if the death requires the coroner's attention. The funeral director cannot arrange a transfer until a Cause of Death Certificate’ has been completed by the attending doctor or medical staff. Most hospitals have 48 hours (business days) to complete their paperwork, and the transfer is usually arranged within a day of the notification that the paperwork has been completed. As most hospitals have a mortuary, they can keep your family member in their care until the funeral director organises a transfer during normal working hours.
My loved one has passed away at home. What do I do?

If your loved one has passed away at home, the first step is to contact either the family doctor or an ambulance, depending on the situation. If the death was anticipated, your doctor has likely already explained the necessary steps. If this occurs during the night, family members can often choose to stay with their loved one until morning. At that time, you should contact your doctor to come to your home to issue the Cause of Death Certificate and the cremation permit papers if a cremation has been selected. You can also notify your chosen funeral director, if already selected, who will arrange to transfer your loved one into their care.
When does a Coroner become involved?

The following types of deaths must be reported to the coroner, and a cause of death certificate should not be issued. According to this Act, a death is considered reportable if it occurs under any of the following circumstances: The person’s death was violent or unnatural. The person’s death was sudden, with an unknown cause. The person’s death occurred under suspicious or unusual circumstances. The person had not been seen by a medical practitioner in the six months prior to their death. The person’s death was an unexpected outcome of a health-related procedure.
When your loved one dies in a Nursing Home or Aged Care Facility

If you were not present, the care facility staff will contact you to inform you of your loved one’s passing. They will notify the doctor on your behalf and will also arrange for a funeral director to transfer your family member into their care, as nursing homes and aged care facilities do not have mortuary facilities, unlike hospitals. During the admission process, you may have been asked to provide the contact details of your chosen funeral director. This information is helpful in case the staff are unable to reach you, allowing them to contact the funeral home directly and make immediate arrangements. The staff will provide your contact information to the funeral home, and they will work with the attending doctor to issue a Cause of Death Certificate
What do I do if the death of a loved one is sudden and unexpected?

If the death is unexpected, the first step is to call an ambulance. Upon arrival, ambulance staff will typically notify the police or, in some cases, your family doctor. If your doctor is contacted and issues a Cause of Death Certificate, you can then call a funeral director to arrange the transfer of your loved one into their care. Suppose a doctor is unable to determine the probable cause of death. In that case, the police will document the details and report the death to the coroner, who will arrange for your loved one to be taken to the coroner’s mortuary. The coroner will conduct further investigations and establish the cause of death.
How to choose a Funeral Director

When planning a funeral, you will have to discuss complex subjects at a time when you may be experiencing feelings of sadness and loss. Funeral directors play a critical role in planning and carrying out a funeral service according to your instructions. They have the knowledge and experience to assist families in understanding the funeral options available and to explain the different funeral services and product features to create personalised and meaningful tributes. They will also complete the necessary legal documentation with the authorities to register the death and obtain a death certificate. Independent and Family-Owned Funeral Homes are locally or family-owned businesses that were established without the assistance of a large corporation. Many families have been in the funeral profession for generations. Generally, they have greater flexibility when it comes to pricing, with lower overheads and fewer financial commitments. You will be able to liaise directly with the funeral home's owner and operators, who are not obliged to follow large corporate policies or directives. This means they can be very flexible and individual with funeral arrangements. They are also not bound to particular suppliers and can provide personalised items from a range of businesses, e.g., coffins, urns, flowers, and caterers.
What if I don’t know whether to choose Cremation or Burial?

This is a personal decision made in advance by the deceased or family members, taking into consideration the deceased’s wishes, feelings and beliefs. Please check if the deceased expressed a preference in their Will (if there is one in existence) and/or any pre-planned funeral arrangements/documentation that the deceased may have put in place. Cremation reduces the body to cremated remains within a matter of hours, whereas traditional burial follows the process of slow and natural decomposition. Some people respect the process of allowing the body to decompose naturally and consider cremation merely as hurrying the process, while others believe that cremation denotes reverence. If it is important for you to be able to visit or be near the deceased’s final resting place, you should consider this when deciding. If you may move away from the area in the future, you can carry the cremated remains of the deceased with you, but this is not possible in the case of burial.
When should I choose Cremation?

Cremations are becoming a more popular choice with families today. Cremation is a simpler process that also helps save ground space, but this is not the case with a burial. Nevertheless, both are regarded as both legal and safe ways of dealing with a deceased person. As it is common today for people to live away from their family roots, cremation provides more flexibility in terms of ‘memorialisation’, as compared to the method of burying in a cemetery or graveyard. Parents of children who have passed away, for example, sometimes find it difficult to move away from their burial site. The cremated remains can be stored in a cremation urn and displayed on a shelf at home, scattered on land, scattered from the air by plane, floated on water, placed in a columbarium, (a structure with small recessed compartments for placing urns containing cremation ashes), buried in a burial plot (does not require a full-sized plot), or entombed in a crypt within a mausoleum. You can carry the cremated remains of the deceased with you if you are moving elsewhere, but this is not possible in case of burial. Disclaimer: Check your legal and religious obligations to the deceased's wishes before proceeding with Cremation.
When should I choose Burial?

There are a few options as to where and how the remains of the deceased may be buried. There are many reasons for choosing a burial, including: Burial is traditional within your family, religious belief, or geographical location. You do not like the idea of the deceased being cremated. You prefer to have the deceased slowly return to the elements. You may want to visit the grave in the future, and you may feel a cemetery more appealing than a columbarium at a crematorium. You may wish to erect a monument on the grave. Some people consider burial more environmentally friendly than cremation. Disclaimer: Check your legal and religious obligations to the deceased's wishes before proceeding with Cremation.
Arranging a viewing for your loved one

The decision to spend special time with a deceased loved one allows seeing them in a peaceful state to say your final goodbyes. People sometimes have difficulty deciding regarding viewing of their loved one as they are experiencing mixed feelings. They may be fearful as they have never seen a deceased person before, and they are concerned they will be disturbed by what they see or will be embarrassed by becoming upset in front of others. On the other hand, they may feel a deep need to spend time with their loved one to say some final private farewell and/or come to a level of personal acceptance. The decision not to view a body can be equally difficult. It can result in feelings of regret at not seeing the person for the last time or confirming the reality of their death. This is something that may be felt more often in cases of sudden death due to the unexpected nature of the death and, therefore, the feeling of unreality that is often associated with it. Some people simply feel they have said their goodbyes at an earlier time and do not need to spend any further time with the deceased. Within a family, there may be different views on whether to have a viewing of the deceased person. Some will find viewing helpful in finding some amount of closure, but others may find it distressing.