In a dark storage room beneath Canberra's Norwood Park Crematorium sits row after row of plastic boxes — each with a silent story to tell.
Every box contains cremated human remains — someone's sister, someone's grandparent, someone's child — and for a myriad of reasons, all of them are unclaimed.
Crematorium manager Stephen Beer estimates there are between 600 and 800 boxes of ashes in the storeroom, some dating as far back as the 1970s when the crematorium began operating.
"Some people just don't want to have them again," Mr Beer says.
Or, Mr Beer says, sometimes people just find it too difficult to claim the ashes of their loved ones.
Warning: This story contains images some people may find confronting.
But the unclaimed boxes represent more than just a number of untold stories — they point to a change in Canberrans' attitudes to funeral practices.
For more than 50 years, Norwood Park has held Canberra's cremation monopoly.
But, within a decade, the national capital could host four crematoriums, catering to a seismic shift in the national capital's cemetery sector thanks to population growth, the preference for more environmentally friendly burials and to accommodate religious and cultural practices in an increasingly diverse Canberra.
Turning our backs on burials
Chief executive of government authority Canberra Memorial Parks, Kerry McMurray, says attitudes to funerals are changing.
The ACT government responded to the growing demand for cremations by building its own crematorium at the Gungahlin Cemetery just a short distance from crematorium Norwood Park.
Mr McMurray says most calls for the facility have come from the multicultural community, where cremations are sometimes required within 24 hours of death.
"Demographics are changing in the Canberra community, as are the cultural and religious needs of the community, and we need to respond to those changes," he says.
Mr Beer agrees that cremations are becoming the funeral of choice, and says, in addition to cultural and religious practices, cost is another driving factor.
A modern twist on a Hindu ritual
Gungahlin Crematorium manager, Michelle Dariol, says in some religious faiths, family members want to be actively involved in the cremation process.
"It's a lot of people … our Hindu community here in Canberra, Jains, Sikhs, some Buddhists," she says.
In a modern version of the same ritual at Gungahlin Crematorium, families can begin the cremation with the click of a button on a remote control.
"It's about the family participating and initiating the cremation process so we won't go ahead unless the family indicates to us that they're ready," Ms Dariol says.
"Some people would be like 'I could never want to watch my loved one go in the cremator, I couldn't do it'.
Re-imagined cemetery
Canberrans may be opting away from traditional burials, but the ACT government is still running out of cemetery plots.
The Woden Cemetery is close to capacity, and the Gungahlin Cemetery only has enough burial space for about another 30 years.
However, a proposed Southern Memorial Park in Tuggeranong would provide plots for about a century, to cater for Canberra's expected population growth, and death, rates.
And while cemeteries have traditionally been places of quiet reflection, Mr McMurray says the new facility would invite active community recreation.
"Bike riding or walking paths and trails, there'll be a playground, so it'll be a complete package."
The greener option, favoured by scientists and academics
The Southern Memorial Park will also allow for 1,200 so-called "natural burials", where bodies are buried in shallower graves in a bushland setting.
Natural burials only allow fully biodegradable coffins or shrouds and have been an option at Gungahlin Cemetery since 2015.
To the untrained eye, the burial ground looks like a peaceful patch of bushland, until you notice the occasional mound.
Adam Gregory from Canberra Memorial Parks says it is the funeral of choice for the environmentally-minded.
"You'll see little mounds here and there where there've been burials, but the land will just flatten out over time," he says.
"Over the past few years, we've had an increased interest from the Canberra community, about choosing this place to have their loved ones laid to rest."
Mr Gregory says he has also received interest in environmentally friendly resting places from older generations and academics.
"Academics and scientists and the like are more ahead of the curve, so they see this area as the future of burials."
