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This article about wind phones was written by our guest blogger, Lotti Fraser. Lotti is a British expat living in Sydney.

Some conversations don’t have to end when someone dies. We keep them going in our heads – updates we never got to give, apologies we still carry, gratitude that didn’t find its moment.

A Wind Phone is a simple concept: a disconnected phone set up in a quiet, natural area where people can “contact” loved ones who have died. You simply pick up the receiver, speak, and let the wind carry your words wherever they need to go.

The first Wind Phone was created in a private garden in Japan by Itaru Sasaki as a way to help him grieve the loss of his cousin. He installed an old-fashioned, disconnect telephone booth in his garden as a space where he could continue his connection with his cousin after death. The following year, the devastating 2011 tsunami struck Japan’s coast, destroying towns and taking thousands of lives. The Wind Phone became something larger – a place where people could go to speak to those they had lost. Since then, Wind Phones have appeared around the world: in forests, along coastlines, in parks, and in gardens. Each one is unique, but they all share an essential truth: there is no one on the other end of the line, and yet people are heard.

There are now over 500 Wind Phones across the globe but with precious few in Australia. I have been living overseas my whole adult life and moved to Sydney in 2024. After losing my father in October 2025 and spending many months in the UK surrounded by family and friends, I now find myself back in Sydney alone carrying the quiet weight of grief and a space where my dad once was. I want to create a Wind Phone in central Sydney for myself, and for anyone else who longs to keep speaking to someone they miss. I imagine it as a quiet place, somewhere with trees, sky, and maybe water nearby. Public and accessible for anyone who needs it, but not so busy people don’t feel like they can speak freely.

I hope for this to be a community-owned project and would love to hear from anyone who feels drawn to the idea. A Wind Phone can be as simple or ornate as we want it to be and can easily be made by anyone with some basic practical skills. Whether you work in grief support, local government, land management, or whether this simply resonates with you personally, I am especially interested in conversations about possible locations, partnerships, and how such a space could be held respectfully and safely in Sydney.

You can learn more about Wind Phones on their website here. Would you or your organisation like to get involved in creating the very first Wind Phone in NSW? If this idea speaks to you – or if you can recommend a place for a possible phone – I would warmly welcome you to get in touch via email to: fraser.lotti@gmail.com