✅ Replace Sariahs stolen headstone & restore family memorial

*Update*

Thank you to everyone that has donated so far. Mum and I are travelling to the original location that we bought the rose quartz crystal from to find a replacement today & your donations will go towards the purchase.

Thank you again,

Ellie.

On her birthday, my younger sister Sariah Rose’s headstone was stolen—just three months after it was finally installed.

We waited, hoping police would recover it. Instead, we lost two more family members—our Aunty Kylie and Grandma Rosalie—both to cancer. They were buried at the same site, where our grandfather also rests. Now, we need to rebuild a lasting memorial that honours all of them.

Sariah Rose passed away in 2020 from bowel cancer at just 27 years old, leaving behind her two-year-old son, her partner, my mum, myself, and two other sisters.

The lockdowns made her funeral incredibly difficult, with weeks of cancelled and remade plans. Friends and family who were unable to attend were left devastated.

To honour her memory, we handpicked a beautiful rose quartz boulder—a tribute to her middle name, Rose. We travelled south of Melbourne, searched through hundreds of stones, and found one that felt right. We all accidentally cut ourselves handling it—joking it was like some kind of ritual.

After years of working with different masons, as the stone was unique and tricky to work with, my mum finally had the stone prepared and installed in April 2024.

Then, on July 29—Sariah’s birthday—her son visited her grave to pay his respects and found it destroyed.

The stone was gone.

My mum had been there less than 24 hours earlier, cleaning up the site for her grandson’s first visit.

My sister Melanie worked with police, and while a suspect was arrested, the stone was never found. (see article linked below)

Why We Need Your Help

Since then, we have lost two more family members. The site now holds our sister, aunty, grandma, and grandfather—but right now, it’s incomplete.

Our family is raising funds to create a family headstone, one that cannot be stolen.

How Your Donations Will Help

- Design & install a permanent family memorial

- Include rose quartz from the same supplier

- Make it too heavy to steal + add a GPS tracker

- Plant garden beds & roses in Grandma’s memory

We are committed to creating this family memorial, and we are deeply grateful for any contribution—not only to help fund the site but also to keep that spark of faith in our collective humanity glowing.

Thank you.

links:

Initial News Report of Theft

Police Arrest Update

*This fundraiser is managed by Ellie Hunt, older sister of Sariah, Niece of Kylie and Grand daughter of Rosalie.