Oakdale Funerals

13/09/2026

It’s time for David and I to say goodbye to Oakdale and enjoy retired life. We know only too well that none of us know what may be just around the corner and the caravan is all set to go! 😊
We are filled with such gratitude, hope & excitement for the future. But of course there is a touch of sadness too, and surprisingly in a way I am once again feeling the grief of farewelling so many people. Including more than I can mention of our own family & friends 😚😢
We really did care ❤️💜🩵

Eleven years ago we started Oakdale and as to be expected it was a slow start. Now we can proudly say we helped around 1000 families with funerals, with me also often in the role of celebrant.

What a team of the most amazing people we had behind us, not to mention the lovely families we have met along the way! Thankyou Thankyou to you all for trusting us, working with us and supplying to us.

So now we pass on the reins - including our treasured hot rod hearse to Kelly and her team. Kelly brings a wealth of knowledge, and is a very experienced and respected funeral director. And it’s lovely to see her so proud and happy to be the new Owner of Oakdale Funerals…
We wish you all the very best.
Anne & David xox

24/03/2026

We are so appreciating today’s flowers. Nice and bright as we say farewell to a young man who leaves this life way too soon. They help to remind us of the brightness in his life, despite the difficult times 😚❤️

12/11/2025

We are very grateful to the Collingwood Football Club and sooooo many other organisations and people as we all work towards a fitting and special service for beautiful young Benny…💔

Collingwood has offered its 2023 premiership cup to be part of the memorial to Ben Austin, the teenage cricketer who died after a nets accident in Melbourne’s east. > https://bit.ly/4oCqTcy

06/10/2025

We are always pleased to support families in whatever faith or belief they hold dear. Religious, spiritual or otherwise ❤️
Here we are today at the beautiful old and serene church St John’s Anglican in Toorak 🙏

18/07/2025

We just loved these flowers for the wonderful man Laurie. Amazing BIG yellow roses amongst other delights! Thankyou to the dedicated talented team at Mordialloc Florist 🩷👏🌷

28/06/2025

It was a deeply moving ceremony at magnificent Montsalvat in Eltham on this chilly Saturday morning as we said farewell to John. Professor in Italian studies, adventurer, master of six languages, a lover of opera and the arts while remaining an ever so humble man. I find myself still immersed in his life as we heard the incredible voice of opera singer Rebecca with some of his favourite arias. Just one of the highlights of John’s ceremony. And how lucky I was to be gifted his vibrant memorial flowers.. A bit lost for words after today 🥰🩵🎵🌷

11/06/2025

It was truly special celebrating the life of 101yr old Agnes and the amazing life she lived.
She loved the color pink, flowers, ch*****ne and was an elegant charismatic lady. And the story goes that she would have loved our hot rod hearse…especially with the 1931 year of his ‘birth’ being close to hers 👏😌
So very loved by her many nieces 🩷

02/06/2025

It’s always so nice when a lovely client family is thankful for one of our ideas… like this display of amazing quilts! Sooo many quilts made with love and given to family,friends and donated to charities ❤️
As I said in my ceremony… just to think of the hundreds of thousands of stitches Suzanne sewed and the special friends and places she sat with/in while sewing.. Amazing! And what a lasting legacy Suzanne leaves behind 💕🙏

01/04/2025

🤎💛🤍
The thing about grief is that other people tend to forget you’re doing it. Or they think that after a week or two, you should be over it.

But you and I know it doesn’t work that way, right?

We have to somehow strike a balance between the act of grieving, and our total lack of control over it, along with the will to continue living life and making plans.

But grief is a tricky thing. There’s an array of thoughts and emotions I continue to face in my grief that’s somehow invisible and unfamiliar to everyone else. So, I talk about it, and write about it, in order to shed a little light on the unseen and unknown.

The only people who can understand this are those of us who have experienced a tremendous loss.

How do you explain to people who have no idea what you’re experiencing that it’s been several months and you’re still crying yourself to sleep? That you’re always sad?

How do you show them what you had to witness with your own eyes, or explain to them why you still just want the person you love to come back?

Here’s the thing…you can’t!
It’s not just their death that we struggle with, it’s also the regret of all the things said and done during the time in which they were still alive. And it’s in all the things you can’t say or do now that they’re gone.

It’s not just about the last interaction you had with someone, it’s about all of it: the birthdays, the holidays, the hugs, the talks, the trips together. It’s about the lifetime of good memories.

When someone you love is taken from you suddenly, your brain has a way of doing whatever it does when you experience a traumatic event, it holds onto it tight, and constantly floods you with thoughts of it.

The unfortunate truth is that we’re all susceptible to grief, because we’re all able to love. The risk of love is loss, and the price of loss is grief. And I think it’s worth it.

Maybe nothing’s ever really gone? I don’t know.
But what I do know is that I’m still trying to reconcile the fact that every day is just another day without my loved one in it.
And…that will never change.

By: Gary Sturgis - Surviving Grief 🤍

Artist: Federico Infante 🤍

18/03/2025

Our hearts were filled with gratitude and joy today as we said farewell to the charismatic ‘Fancy Nancy’ in this beautiful location in the heart of the Yarra Valley. The wee toast of sweet sherry we all made to Nancy as the hearse departed would have met with her approval. You were a special lady Nancy and we were honored to look after you 💜🩷❤️