Mick Young had worked with cadavers since his first week as a Bachelor of Science student at the University of Canberra, but it wasn't until his first day of work as a mortuary technician that he got a real idea of what was ahead of him.
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The difference being the human bodies he worked with from his first week in UC anatomy classes were preserved with formalin to prevent decomposing.
"I was told before I went to my first autopsy viewing that you can deal with all the formalin-style cadavers as much as you want but as soon as it becomes a real person, that's when it starts freaking some people out," he said.
But the 21-year-old aspiring doctor took to the unusual job with aplomb, flying through the one-month probation period designed to weed out the faint-hearted.
While much of the job is administrative - checking cases in and out of the Forensic Medical Centre and liaising with funeral homes - there is plenty of work that Mr Young, who formally graduated from UC on Friday night, needs his anatomical training for.
"Our job is to eviscerate the bodies: remove the organs, get all the organs out and present them to the pathologist. He can then analyse the organs and determine the cause of death," he said. "After we do that, our job is to restore the bodies … and have them ready for funeral homes to set up viewings."
It's not a typical job for a new graduate, and one that sparks plenty of questions.
"A lot of people are shocked but at the same time I've had a few people say 'that's the perfect job for you!"
While he hopes they're referring to his medical aspirations - Mr Young hopes to study medicine next year - he said dealing with death on a daily basis was not as dark as it could seem. "It's a very upbeat place … you can't be sombre the entire time, otherwise it kind of gets to you.
"It's dealing with death but in a respectful way … we'll say 'put Mr X on the table over there' or 'what are we doing with Mr X now', so it's treating them as if they were in the hospital."
