Banksia Memorials was founded on the Fleurieu Peninsula to offer Adelaide families a genuine alternative to the traditional funeral experience. We coordinate Living Wakes, Celebrations of Life, and memorial gatherings, hosted at some of the most beautiful venues our region has to offer, wineries, hospitality spaces, and the places that actually meant something to the person being farewelled, rather than a hired hall or a funeral home function room.
Founded by Velvet Oakes, who spent close to twenty years in the region’s wine and hospitality industry, Banksia partners with wineries and hospitality venues across McLaren Vale, Victor Harbor, Goolwa, Southern Adelaide, and surrounding suburbs. Not every family wants a service in a funeral home chapel, and Banksia works with those who’d rather gather somewhere their person actually loved. We coordinate everything that goes with it, venue, catering, celebrant, and the details that make the day feel right.
Banksia isn’t a funeral director and doesn’t handle burial or cremation. We work alongside funeral directors and celebrants, not in place of them, focusing purely on the gathering itself, so families have more options at a time when they need them most.
Behind the scenes, we’ve built a network of local support across hospitality, celebrancy, grief counselling, and legal and accounting services, so no family in our community has to face loss alone.
The memorial your loved one deserves, somewhere they would have loved.
