After 18 years’ work as a forensic technician – including working as part of the body-identification team in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami – Julie Ash was looking for a change in direction.
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Now enjoying a career as a marriage celebrant, Julie says she hasn’t looked back since taking up her new career.
In her former life, the Port Macquarie resident estimates she has performed over 3,000 autopsies, where she said she had become quite intimate with the inner workings of the body.
“My job at the morgue was to open the body and remove all the organs so that a pathologist could determine cause of death and then construct the bodies back up again carefully,” she said.
“When I removed the organs I would also take samples to send away for toxicology testing.”
At the top of her game, Julie worked as a forensic technician in both Glebe and Adelaide and was deployed with the Australia Federal Police to Phuket, Thailand following the 2004 tsunami.
“I was the on-call technician when we received the call about heading to Phuket to identify bodies after the tsunami in 2004, so I spent 17 days on assignment working with people from all over the world.
“It was confronting but nothing I hadn’t see before. The long days of work were done in extraordinary heat but I felt like I was helping and making a difference.
“I was actually awarded an appreciation medal as well as an Australia Federal Police Operations Medal for my work which was a bit unexpected at the time.”
She said when people find out about her past life many are interested and after spending so much time looking at body parts, the most fascinating would be the liver.
“It is also interesting to talk to people who want to know what I do for work.
“When I tell them about my forensic work some are freaked out but many are curious about what exactly I did.
“I find the liver quite a fascinating organ because you can tell a lot about a person from that one organ and after 10 years of performing autopsies you see quite a few.”
But all that changed when Julie decided to retire and move to Port Macquarie.
She said she wanted to do something totally different from what she had done before and became a marriage celebrant.
“I wanted to do something different and I loved the idea of being involved on such a special day,” she said.
“A wedding is such a happy occasion and the moment I pronounce a couple married is my favourite part because after all the planning the moment the couple has waited for is finally here.
I am a big believer in making the most out of each and every day because you never know when your time is up.
- Julie Ash
“Every wedding is different of course but that moment is so special because everyone is on cloud nine.”
In her spare time, Julie still does some forensic technician work for the Neural Archives Foundation.
“The Neural Archives Foundation is a non profit organisation which preserves brain tissues for research so I do work for them from time to time.”
Julie said from her work in both forensics and as a celebrant she tries to embrace each day as it comes.
“I am a big believer in making the most out of each and every day because you never know when your time is up.
“I am witness to that after seeing so many young people on my table.”