Narrawallee social worker and grief counsellor Sue Welsh has gained valuable insights after a six year study into roadside memorials.
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Ms Welsh photographed and analysed 50 memorials in the Shoalhaven Local Government Area and interviewed 14 family members or friends from both the Shoalhaven and Australia-wide who have built memorials to their loved ones.
“I was interested to find out why people build them, if they help and how they help,” she said.
“I was keen to engage in the debate and controversy surrounding them, and explore the subsequent policies different councils or governments adopt.”
“The most touching tributes for me were the ones with names and especially photographs."
- Sue Welsh
Ms Welsh has just submitted her PhD to Charles Sturt University - Private sorrow in the public domain - the growing phenomenon of roadside memorials.
“Everyone I spoke to had a story to tell me or an opinion,” she said.
“The most touching tributes for me were the ones with names and especially photographs.
“These make it impossible to just see the deceased as a statistic or road toll figure, the more personalised they are, the more impact they have as road safety warnings to other drivers.”
Ms Welsh said some sites had a number of personalised artefacts which make them more individual and powerful. For this reason, the people she interviewed were very against policies in areas where memorials are prohibited and only black statistical markers are allowed.
Participants in the research were very vocal about this.
“The need for the site to be personalised, reflecting the character and individuality of the deceased, is important,” Ms Welsh said.
Conversely, she had a lot of contact from emergency service personnel, such as ambulance officers, firies and police, who are strongly against roadside memorials, seeing them as potential triggers for post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Some do not wish to be reminded of the tragic incidents they have had to attend.”
In a similar vein, nearby residents may also be unhappy with a memorial attached to a power pole near their home.
“Some emergency personnel do not wish to be reminded of the tragic incidents they have had to attend.”
- Sue Welsh
During her research Ms Welsh consulted Shoalhaven City Council, which does not have a prescriptive policy but “follows NSW Roads and Maritime guidelines, which are pretty good”.
More widely, Moreton Bay Regional Council in Queensland, Vic Roads and Western Australia’s Department of Main Roads sought her research.
“WA has the best policy to ensure traffic safety but allows personalised memorials which are respectful. They’re lenient and have other options, for example decals that can be placed.
“Western Australia has the best policy to ensure traffic safety but allows personalised memorials which are respectful.
- Sue Welsh
“Perhaps the most poignant of many stories I could tell was from the sister of a young 19-year old, who believed that her sister would most definitely have wanted a large memorial established at the site she died.
“She would have wanted everyone to know that that was her place, she would have wanted everyone to remember her there as they drove past.”
On the other hand, a young widow did not want anyone else except for her children and close friends to know where the site was, so hers is hidden away and not visible from the road - “she did not want everyone gawking at it as they went past”.
Another mother, grieving the death of her 35-year old son, has never been to visit the memorial his mates built, she finds the site of the death too tragic and never wants to go there.
“The majority of the people I interviewed, however, find the site brings them a lot of comfort and solace, and find it a place to communicate with their loved one,” Ms Welsh said.
“They attach a spiritual significance to the site, as this is the place their loved one took their last breath, or where their spirit left their body.”
With changes to burial traditions and an increase in cremations, many no longer have a place in a cemetery, as ashes may be kept at home or scattered in a more meaningful place.
Thus, there is no physical place to go to on special occasions, like birthdays, anniversaries or Christmas.
The roadside memorial thus becomes the focal point to visit at these times.
Ms Welsh’s thesis comprised 100,000 words in more than 400 pages and she has presented her work at a conference at Oxford University and two in Melbourne about international social work and national grief and bereavement.