By Carolyn Webb
Just after midday on a cool, sunny day, the body of Alan Hamilton was laid to rest as his son stood watch.
Travis Hamilton shed tears as he said, off the cuff, “rest in peace, big guy. This is what you wanted. I’m really happy we can give it to you.”
Travis Hamilton’s dad, Alan, wanted to be buried at sea.Credit: Jason South
But this didn’t happen at a cemetery, nor were the Hamiltons scattering Alan’s ashes. It was on a boat in the Southern Ocean, far out of sight of land.
Hamilton was buried at sea, an event so rare that his was the first sea burial in Victoria in the past decade.
After a beautiful sunrise on March 25, Hamilton’s body, clad in a linen shroud, was transported by boat 120 kilometres offshore from Portland, in western Victoria, and cast into the water. The boat sported two chequered flags, in a nod to Alan’s lifelong passion for car racing.
Alan, a retired Porsche car importer and racer, had been adamant in the weeks before his death, aged 82, about being laid to rest at sea and signed a formal document affirming the request.
Final farewell: Sunrise in Portland on the day of Alan Hamilton’s burial at sea.
“He told me, ‘this is what I’ve always wanted’,” Travis said.
“He always said, ‘when I go, I want to be fish food. Put me in the ocean’.”
An old friend of Alan’s told Travis that even when they were teenagers, he had talked about wanting a sea burial when the end came.
In December last year, Travis had co-founded Candour Funerals and Alan asked the company to carry out the burial.
“Dad was tasking me personally to take care of this for him. I thought, ‘this is going to be challenging and there are no guarantees, but let’s give it our best shot’. I committed, I said we’d do our best, try and get it done for him.”
Alan Hamilton in 2015 with a Porsche 356 at his Mornington Peninsula vineyard.
According to the federal environment department, from 2015 to 2025 there were just 15 sea burial permits granted in Australia, with Alan’s the only one in Victorian waters in that period.
Kelly Scott, immediate past president of the Australian Funeral Directors Association, said in 35 years in the industry she had never had an inquiry for a sea burial.
Scott, general manager of Victorian company TJ Scott and Son Funeral Directors, said the need for a $1675 government permit, and costs such as hiring a boat, might be factors in the practice’s rarity.
Rules on the government’s Burial at Sea web page include that the body must be transported to a depth greater than 3000 metres, and must be weighted so it submerges.
The site advises people to tell loved ones of their wish, and to include it in their will.
Simon Mummé and Sameiko Slota organised Alan’s burial down to the smallest details, including bringing seasickness lollies for the nine-hour voyage.
There was a three-week wait for the permit and good weather and ocean conditions.
On March 24, the pair drove the body in a hearse five hours from Mornington to Portland, lodging it overnight in a local funeral home.
Seventeen of Hamilton’s relatives and friends came to Portland, and at the wharf at daybreak they had last drinks and farewelled Alan, who was secured on a charter boat.
Travis and two of his relatives were on board, with two crew, the two funeral directors and a videographer.
Alan’s body was strapped to the back of the boat for the four-hour-plus outward voyage.
Travis says there was big rolling swell for most of the trip but on arrival at the committal spot the water was eerily calm.
The family helped the funeral directors lift the shrouded body to the rear of the boat, where Alan was gently slid into the water, feet-first.
Flowers and letters from relatives to Alan were also cast into the sea.
On the voyage back, dolphins jumped all around the boat. Travis said it was joyous, a little surreal and a relief besides the grief.
“It was a sense of, ‘we’ve done it’, It was no mean feat.”
Travis said his father was a gregarious and visionary man who in 1972 took over his father Norman’s Porsche importing and distribution business.
Passion for cars: A young Alan Hamilton pictured in 1968 in a new Porsche.
Alan was also a well-known car racer, coming second, with teammate Colin Bond, at Bathurst in 1977 in a Moffat Ford.
However injuries from a horrific crash a year later left Alan with diabetes, prohibiting him from circuit racing. But he later won two national hill climb championships and managed successful Porsche racing teams whose drivers included the legendary Alan Jones.
Travis said Alan had owned boats and went fishing, but it wasn’t why he wanted a sea burial.
“He didn’t like the idea of being put in a hole and didn’t like the idea of cremation,” Travis said. “He thought, ‘put me in the ocean’. It made sense to him.
“There was a lot about my Dad that was inexplicable, so I accepted that that’s what he wanted. I said, if that’s what he wants, that’s what I’ll try to do for him.”
Travis advises others considering sea burial to plan ahead.
“But don’t be nervous, it is possible. And it really was beautiful.”
Alan’s memorial service will be on Wednesday, April 16, at The Timber Yard in Port Melbourne.
He is survived by his wife Lorna, three children and three grandchildren.
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