Burial

Once a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death has been issued, a body can be buried. There are three choices of burial site: a public cemetery, a private cemetery, or private land.

To bury a body on private land, the land must be greater than five hectares in area and the approval of the Local Council must be obtained. The Council will not allow a body to be buried in an area where it has the potential to pollute a domestic water supply. Most Councils require the proposed site to be surveyed, and they may put a restrictive covenant on the land. Both public and private cemeteries can be selective, and may refuse to accept a body that has not been delivered by a funeral director. There is no legal requirement for them to do so.

A person who wishes to arrange a private funeral would need to identify a sympathetic cemetery operator before the death. (No such operator could be identified from inquiries made in the course of preparing this web site). Alternatively, it is possible to select a funeral director who will only conduct those parts of a funeral that the family considers too difficult to organise themselves.

When a body is buried, the top of the coffin must be a minimum of 900 mm below ground level, unless it is placed in an above-ground vault. Any body placed in an above-ground vault must be embalmed and hermetically enclosed in an approved material.

Cemetery officers must maintain a register of all people buried within the cemetery.