Mum's ashes lost in last year's floods turn up in this year's disaster
A chance encounter on a Facebook post led to a New South Wales man finding his mother's ashes after they went missing 12 months ago.
St Albans resident Michael Hedger sadly lost the urn after the area — part of the Hawkesbury Valley, northwest of Sydney — in the flooding in March 2021.
Mr Hedger, who divides his time between St Alban's and Darlinghurst in Sydney's inner city, was in Darlinghurst when he received a message from a friend who had seen a post from a local Facebook group after finding the urn with 'Hedger' written on it.
"Sadly someone's loved ones remains?" Suzi Dery had written alongside a picture of the urn that had been found floating in the floodwater at St Alban Commons by her partner Corey.
'They're my mum's ashes'
Replying to the post, Mr Hedger confirmed they were his mother's.
"Amazing that you found my mother’s ashes," he commented. "They were lost in the flood in March 2021. Thanks".
Mr Hedger told Macquarie Port News he had been scattering the ashes around a tree he'd planted in his mother's honour, placing the urn on a table in the garden planning to scatter more later when floodwaters swept through in March 2021.
"There was still a lot [of ashes] there, and the flood washed everything away and I realised of course that the box was gone," Mr Hedger told the publication.
Although the box was gone, Mr Hedger said he was hoping his mother's ashes may have ended up in the ocean, where they'd scattered his dad's ashes.
"Some of the local fire service's gear turned up at Coogee beach [in Sydney's east] so I was thinking my mother had gone out to sea and I thought, well that's nice," he said.
"I think Mum would have thought this was very funny."
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