Burial on private land | Funeral Services

Row 1

State by state: who has to say yes

New South Wales

Who approves: The local council, as a development approval under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. The council’s process may include notifying neighbours, who can comment.
The tests: Under the Public Health Regulation 2022 the whole landholding must be at least five hectares; smaller holdings are not allowed. The body must be in a coffin, buried with at least 900 millimetres between the top of the coffin and the natural soil level, and the burial must not contaminate a drinking water supply. A geotechnical investigation may be asked for where groundwater or surface water could be affected.
Where to ask: The council for the land, and the local public health unit on 1300 066 055, the number NSW Health gives.

Victoria

Who approves: The Secretary to the Department of Health, in writing and before the burial (section 121 of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003). The same applies to an existing religious or Indigenous burial ground, since these are not public cemeteries.
The tests: Applications for private property are generally refused. The department will usually consider one only where there is a record of earlier burials on the land, with the graves clearly marked. Approval can carry conditions about the size and zoning of the land, burial depth, the standard of any memorial, care of the site, the person’s connection to the land and the state of the ground (section 124).
Penalty: Burying a body outside a public cemetery without approval is an offence that can carry 600 penalty units, five years’ imprisonment, or both (section 114).

South Australia

Who approves: The Attorney-General, for any burial outside a lawfully established cemetery or natural burial ground (section 8 of the Burial and Cremation Act 2013).
The exception: In a prescribed area, which the Act describes as land outside a township or Metropolitan Adelaide, or an area the regulations define, a burial may take place with the landowner’s permission and under the regulations, and with the council’s approval where the land is in a council area.
Penalty: Up to $10,000 or two years’ imprisonment, as at October 2026.

Western Australia

Who approves: The Minister for Local Government, in advance, under section 12 of the Cemeteries Act 1986. The department assesses applications on an application form it publishes.
The tests: The Act generally requires burial in a proclaimed cemetery. Approval is considered only in the most exceptional circumstances, and only for land reserved for burials under the Land Administration Act 1997, or land that is visibly set apart and recognisable as a burial place.

Tasmania

Who approves: Three people, each in writing: the landholder, the Director of Public Health and the general manager of the council (section 29 of the Burial and Cremation Act 2019). The general manager can agree only after the Director has.
Conditions: Any permission may carry conditions needed to protect public health and safety.

This entry covers these five states only; Queensland, the ACT and the Northern Territory are not covered here.

Row 2

Why Victoria usually says no

Victoria’s Department of Health explains its position by pointing back to a parliamentary joint select committee, which recommended in 1987 against burials on private property. Its concerns, in short: nobody is charged with keeping a proper record of the grave or looking after it; the land can be sold and later put to a use that disturbs the grave; and the rules for burial are hard to enforce away from a cemetery.

Victoria’s answer is the public cemetery. Its public cemeteries are run by trusts that the Governor in Council appoints to look after them for the government and the community, and the department says this keeps the burial records and the history of each cemetery intact, and keeps burials within the law.

When Victoria has allowed a burial on private land in the past, the department says it has been in a burial site that was already established, defined and kept up, with headstones or fencing over earlier graves, written records of them, and a continuing tradition of burial there.

Row 3

When the land changes hands

A private grave outlasts its owners, so some states tie it to the land’s records.

Victoria. Once approval is given, the Secretary lodges a notice with the Registrar of Titles and it is recorded on the land’s title, so anyone searching the title can see there is a grave and where it is (section 126).
Tasmania. The council must keep a record of the burial and show it on the certificate the council issues for the property under section 337 of the Local Government Act 1993.
New South Wales. NSW Health’s guidance asks councils to think about public access to the grave for the future, by direct access or a right of way or easement, in case the property is sold, remains are exhumed or more burials are made. It recommends a plan by a registered land surveyor showing who is buried where, with a copy for the council’s property file, and that councils keep a register of private burial places.

Row 4

How NSW Health expects the site to be kept

Beyond the legal tests, NSW Health’s guidance sets out how a private burial ground should be kept:

a fence that marks the boundary of the burial area and secures it;
a restriction on using the ground next to it, so that nothing is built there and the graves are not disturbed;
a permanent marker on each grave giving the person’s details, with the edges of the grave also permanently marked;
a long-term plan for keeping the graves safe and in good condition;
caution about above-ground burial chambers, which NSW Health says should not be encouraged without extra security.

Moving a grave from private land later needs its own approval, covered in Section E.