The Community Memorial Picnic Among Friends returns…….
Pack a picnic and come be with your living and your dead…..
The Picnic Among Friends was created in 2010 to give people an opportunity to come to a safe, beautiful and natural location to give personal, creative and communal expressions of how we live and love, with loss. How we can create new communal ways to remember those we love. For 10 years, the picnic was hosted by the NFP community association, Living with Our Dead, whose mission was to re-integrate death as a significant part of life through community ceremonial events. It is now back in its original location for 2026 and we would love to share the afternoon with you. Please read further for key elements you can engage in on the day.
The Memory Tree
The Memory Tree provides an opportunity to create a community of people who are no longer living, by placing a photo, their name or an object on the Memory Tree. This can be done on the trunks of the trees or in or on the silk sails that cascade down from the higher branches. Seeing all our dead together is an affirming and comforting experience for may picnickers.
The picnickers, the kids and the memory tree
The Ceremony and Choir
There is a short ceremony, led by Victoria Spence, with a Welcome to Country by Aunty Rhonda Dixon- Grovenor. The ceremony, and the choir, are usually around 3pm and speak to what it means to gather, to spend time thinking about and reflecting upon people we love. We honour the loss of people, of flora, fauna, habitat and those large human and nature based events that we live with and often struggle to respond to.
The Passing it on Tree
This tree allows us to reflect upon what our dead have passed on to us, their living descendants, and what it may be that we still carry from having known them. It also provides an opportunity to write a note to people, places, pets, flora and fauna that comprise the ongoing conversations we may want and need to have with them. In the immediate aftermath, years after the shock of the death may have settled, there is often so much more to say and share and this installation allows just that. It also allows for us to honour our ancestors we may not have known in our lifetimes.
Passing it on tree, with notes written to your people…..
The Meandering Mandalas and the Pets Place
The mandalas are made form buds, seeds, flowers, stones and organic materials collected by the team and can meander along the ground. Its a great activity to do with young kids and adults alike. We have a dedicated kids space, as we have found that the more children are brought into mourning and rememberance, the more normal and approachable death becomes for all, and we all benefit from the cpacity to speak clearly and directly to love, death and loss. Often the loss of a pet is a child’s first experience of death, and even for many adults, the bonds we share with our familiars are deep and true, so honouring their place in our lives is a key elements in our picnic.
Can I come alone? I am in early grief- will it be too much?
For the decade we offered the picnic in Sydney, the feedback was that it was such a safe and loving environment to bring our feelings and our selves into. Whether you are in early grief, come alone or with a group, you are welcome however raw and recent or long ago your loss is. You will be warmly welcomed by members of the team, given a little map of the picnic and oriented into how to be on the day. You can spend time alone, with the people in your party or even meet others. Pack some snacks and non alcoholic beverages, we have rugs!
To RSVP and for more information
For more information about the picnic, how to prepare and what to bring, please visit our Picnic Among Friends site and register for the picnic here. There are two main entrances- the top of View St, Earlwood and the accessible entrance is Flora St, Earlwood. Please call 0431 123 129 on the day to be met at the accessoble entrance.