Simon Mulqueen joins the business
Peter’s son Simon started work with the family business on Monday, February 4th 1980 and worked his way through the various elements of the business from cleaning cars and mortuary work to meeting with families and conducting Funerals – His first arrangement was that of a Mr. Oliver, an English traveller who died here on holiday and had to be repatriated back to England – arrangements were made with Rowland Brothers Funeral Directors in London in the UK and all proceeded well. Simon’s first major area of responsibility in the early 1980’s was to oversee the Pre-paid Funeral portfolio where he took control of that department modernizing the processes and developing new options.
Some of the protocols he adopted were later implemented by the Victorian Government when it introduced the Funerals (Pre-Paid Money) Act 1993. In the early 1990’s Simon convinced Peter and John to change the name of the business to MULQUEEN FAMILY FUNERAL DIRECTORS and he was also the driving force behind the purchase, in 1990, of the F.W. Barnes Funeral Home in Ballarat, and in 2003 Simon handled the purchase of the Napier Park Business in Bendigo.
Simon Married Susan Hogarth in 1992 and they had four children: Harrison, Murdoch, Ethan and Eilish.
Following Peter’s death Simon was appointed Managing Director having already been with the company for 20 years and acting as General Manager for the best part of 10 years due to Peter’s illness. He further developed the business with the negotiation and purchase, in 2003, of the Napier Park Funerals business and properties for Approx. $800,000 – The three companies now made the Family Business probably the largest Funeral Business in Regional Victoria.
Simon Mulqueen sold his interest in the family business in 2006 and established BENDIGO FUNERALS as sole proprietor in 2012.
After some 135+ years Simon is the last of the Mulqueen Family Members still working Full Time in the Funeral Industry as a Funeral Director.
