New Release
Real lives. Real loss.
Who Owns Your Loved One’s Grave
A Daughter’s Journey to Reclaim What Should Never Have Been Taken
From the diaries of
Tracey M Moss
About The Book
Have you ever wondered who looks after your loved one’s gravesite after they die?
Did you know that their ‘next of kin’ by blood may not have the right to make decisions regarding their loved one’s final resting place?
My Dad, John Leonard Moss, passed away in 1984. He was only 40 years old. I was 17. Sixteen years later, my Mum, Lorraine, confessed to taking his life and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. As their firstborn, there was never any reason to think I hadn’t inherited his gravesite. In 2023, I discovered the law had changed to prevent convicted criminals from maintaining control over the lives they had taken, but that didn’t help me!
This is my story of how I gained ownership of my Dad’s grave and challenged the system to change the law to how it was intended – ‘to protect affected persons against significant harm, pain and suffering’.
But there is more to this crime…
About Tracey
Tracey Moss was born in Bendigo and still resides there today with Paul, her life partner and adored pooch, Popcorn, a standard apricot poodle. She has one natural born child, Brooke, now 33 years old who is kind and compassionate working in the Community Services sector, supporting residential and/or homeless youth.
Tracey has enjoyed an exciting, fulfilling and rewarding career. She is an award-winning, highly motivated, multiskilled professional and proud Community Leader who thrives in the Community Development space. She is an active human rights advocate currently working in the Neighbourhood House sector and has always been passionate about people experiencing disadvantage, those facing hardship and marginalised members of society, including migrants and refugees or citizens who are new to Greater Bendigo and indeed, Australia.
Tracey believes a very big part of her life’s journey is to bring people together; to ensure everyone feels welcome, safe and connected with opportunities to participate; to feel valuable and to contribute to the welfare of others with outcomes to benefit our entire community. These follow some of the Neighbourhood House sector principles that are true to her heart.
Volunteering is one of the most important aspects of her life and has been a vital key assisting in her ability to move forward at times over the years, leading to a meaningful life despite her own barriers and the hardships she has faced. Tracey enjoys the area of governance and has served on many Boards/Committee’s of Management for many decades, dedicated to not-for-profits, community and service-based organisations. She balances the adversity and suffering she witnesses by developing and delivering Festivals and Community events, believing and understanding this provides her with ‘balance’, particularly mentally in what are otherwise very challenging environments.
But by far, her greatest project is this one – Free My Family. Writing, gathering, and collating her life’s memories that have so often been placed in ‘bubbles’ and sent to the back of her mind.
It’s now time to burst those bubbles and unravel the tentacles of the mind, working towards making sense of something that has no understandable answers. And to ensure her Dad is not forgotten in this fast-moving world.
Tracey is available to facilitate or speak at meetings, workshops or conferences. If you would like to learn more about her work, you are welcome to email her at freemyfamilyaus@gmail.com