Whatever rocks your boat or fills your sails, they differ widely across the socio-economic spectrum. For Saskia Kouwenberg it’s a plate. Not any old plate – one that keeps a dead body cool while family and friends prepare themselves and their dearly deceased loved one prior to a burial or cremation.

Cooling plates preserve bodies in days after death helping families grieve, say goodbye, report Bronwyn Herbert and Elloise Farrow-Smith,  (ABC North Coast, 3 Apr 2023)

After a monumental 10 years of fundraising, the town of Nimbin in New South Wales has just taken possession of a special cooling plate to preserve bodies in the days following death.

Readers are advised this story contains an image that some people may find distressing.

Key points:
1. The cooling plate can be as cold as minus 17 degrees Celsius,
2. The system is manufactured in the Netherlands and freight costs were a major hurdle for Nimbin,
3. Keeping a loved one at home helps families process their grief.

Resident Saskia Kouwenberg helped facilitate the import and couldn’t be more excited to see its first use.

“It’s the craziest thing, I’m so excited for it to be used, but of course to be excited around death and dying, it’s like they can’t go together,” Ms Kouwenberg said.

“I’m so excited that people don’t need to bring … [those] who have died to an impersonal place, that they can stay at home.”

Learn more including pictures: Cooling plates help preserve bodies