WHO WE ARE
You n’ Taboo is a local Tasmanian initiative; we are dedicated to promoting and encouraging death literacy and conversation within the community.
We are advocates of family led natural alternatives to death and dying, we believe that the opportunity exists for everything to be done so much better than it is right now.
Edwin Quilliam
Edwin Quilliam, father of three, was born and bred on the North-West coast of Tasmania. A country boy at heart he worked building and farming until he eventually made the move to Hobart to follow a path of helping others. He studied counselling for a while and through that fell into the funeral industry. That was 12 years ago and where he met Bec.
Rebecca Lyons
Rebecca Lyons, mother of one, hails from the Blue Mountains in NSW. She started her working career in Sydney before making the move to Tasmania 11 years ago. She had worked in various industries from finance to real estate until she found her path into the funeral industry through a set of fortuitous circumstances.
It didn’t take long after entering the funeral industry for Edwin and Bec to realise that there was something altogether missing from many peoples grieving, from their funeral experiences.
Common things to hear in a funeral home are – “I don’t know what to do” … “I never spoke to mum about her death” … “what are we allowed to do?” … “I wonder if it’s what dad would have wanted?” … “I have an idea but I don’t know if it’s allowed”.
The repetition of these phrases from family after family became alarming. So began the quest to develop a space that people could enter and bring with them all of their fears, concerns and questions about death and dying. By allowing people to engage with us and each other we aim to break down some of tightly held taboos around death and dying and allow for people to learn and reach a new level of comfort and understanding around the many aspects of the death and dying conversation.
The conversations quickly grew into service provision and now Edwin and Bec offer a Family Led Home Funeral service for their community, the only funeral service in Tasmania that actively encourages people to care for their dead and supports them to do so.