The Australian Funeral Directors Association says there's less than 500 morticians working across the country and a large majority are men. But a recent spike in interest from young women could change that.
You may be asking why would anyone want to spend eight hours a day, six days a week, inside a mortuary stacked with corpses and formaldehyde - a pungent chemical with a horrid stench that's used to preserve the human form.
But 28-year-old mortician Sarah O'Connor says helping make the dead beautiful is a rewarding career.
“Philosophically lots of things drew me to the industry,” she said. “What keeps me here I think is the heart.
“It's really about respect and dignity and all those things that are great, that we can actually do for these people."
Unless you're an embalmer or a funeral director you often won't get to see the inside of a mortuary, however The Feed's Patrick Abboud gained unprecedented access to bring you this story.
Warning: this story contains images of the deceased that some may find disturbing.
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