Your body is needed....

Four months ago it was announced that Australia would get its first body farm to be located on a site owned by the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in the lower Blue Mountains. The 48 hectare site has so far proved an attraction to more than 30 people who have all offered to donate their cadavers.

The Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER for short) will study the decomposition of human bodies. UTS Professor Shari Forbes, a forensic scientist and expert on decomposition, will head the facility.

The sites infrastructure is due to be ready early next year. The first facility of its kind in the southern hemisphere will use recently deceased corpses to study human decomposition in the Australian environment. From next year, as many as six donated human cadavers will be exposed to the elements or buried in shallow graves

Normally, scientists have to use pig cadavers to get an approximation of how the human body decomposes in certain conditions.

The facility is situated away from other properties, fully fenced with high-security screening and constantly monitored by CCTV. Each corpse will be covered with a grate to prevent scavengers from distributing the body and bones. The remains will be returned to each family for burial or cremation, depending on the wishes of the deceased. The names of donors are confidential.

Students of the site will range from forensic scientists to anthropologists working alongside over 30 different researchers from 10 institutions.

UTS will hold a free public lecture on body farms entitled ‘Naming the Dead’ on 28 May at 6pm.

Photo: Nick Moir