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Matthew Darby's path to morgue attendant

As a fifteen-year-old, Matthew Darby had a self-confessed “unusual” fascination with the aftermath of death.

“It was just the intrigue of that stage of life when someone does pass away, it was always a bit of a passion for me,” he said.

That curiosity sprouted into a desire to become involved in the funeral business, but as he grew older he was confronted by an industry that wasn’t as accessible as he first thought.

“Most people are born into the industry, they’re mainly family businesses, and it was hard to get your foot in the door,” he said.

Matthew, now approaching two years as morgue attendant at Bendigo Health, began his professional career working in the family court in Melbourne.

“Some days you were surrounded by grief, so you get used to dealing with certain situations,” he said.

He progressed onto a role in the morgue at a funeral directors in Kyneton, before moving to the hospital.

Matthew, 34, believes his learned experiences have helped him thrive in a job others wouldn’t consider.

“I see it more of a career than a job, because if you did it just as a job you wouldn’t last very long given what you come across and what you actually see,” he said.

“You’ve got to have that passion and drive for it to start with to want to do it.”

From babies to the elderly, Matthew can be organising the transfer of a number of patients, or viewings for a number of families, on any given day.

“Everyone is different when it comes to death. You’d be amazed at the amount of people that come here who have lost a loved one and you wouldn’t think it. They talk to you like they’re having a normal conversation, whereas other people break down crying and can’t get two words out,” he said.

“You’ve got to be that support person and think that ‘this is someone’s love one’ and you’ve got to do the job to the best of your ability.”

The chilly, sombre surrounds in the basement of the hospital can be isolating at times for Matthew, who works independently.

The environment also provides time for self-reflection.

“There’s always ones that are going to stick in your memory forever, those difficult ones,” he said.

The role of the morgue at Bendigo Health has become less clinical in recent years, with autopsies and investigations into deaths done by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Melbourne on behalf of the Coroners Court of Victoria.

Previously, a forensic expert would come to Bendigo to conduct an autopsy. As such, the new Bendigo Hospital was built without an autopsy room, but one remains at the old hospital site.