Who decides
NSW Health lists the usual reasons for an exhumation: a family’s or culture’s wish to move remains to another burial ground, another part of the state, another state or overseas, or to have them cremated; a coroner’s order; scientific work such as identifying unknown burials; making way for redevelopment of a closed cemetery; or moving a body to another plot or vault in the same cemetery.
| State | Who decides | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | The Secretary of NSW Health, through local public health units, or a coroner’s order (section 94 of the Public Health Regulation 2022). | An approval is valid for three months unless the Secretary agrees another period. An authorised officer or Ministry of Health staff member must be present and can stop the exhumation at any time. |
| Victoria | The Secretary to the Department of Health, by an exhumation licence applied for under section 156 of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003. | Allow at least six months. The application fee is $207.25 as at October 2026, and it is not refunded if the licence is refused. |
| South Australia | The Attorney-General, whose approval is needed to exhume or remove bodily remains from their place of interment (section 13 of the Burial and Cremation Act 2013). No approval is needed where the remains are exhumed or removed under a warrant issued under the Coroners Act 2003. | Before approving an exhumation, the Attorney-General must make a reasonable attempt to find out the views of the surviving close relatives. Doing it without approval can carry a penalty of up to $20,000 or four years’ imprisonment. |
| Western Australia | The Minister, by written order under section 58 of the Cemeteries Act 1986, on an application handled by the department. | The department asks for at least seven working days from when it has every document, and longer in some cases. The decision arrives as a letter by email. |
| Tasmania | The Director of Public Health, in writing, including for remains on private land (section 30 of the Burial and Cremation Act 2019). | The Director may set conditions and name someone to supervise. Exhuming without authority can carry a fine of up to 100 penalty units, two years’ imprisonment, or both. |
What an application holds
In NSW, the application can come from the executor of the estate, from the nearest surviving relative, or, where neither is available, from someone the Secretary accepts as the proper person in the circumstances. It goes on the approved form with a certified copy of the death certificate, a statutory declaration about the applicant’s relationship to the person and what is known of the person’s wishes for their body, and the fee set by the Regulation.
Western Australia’s department asks for the details that a cemetery plan is built around. In summary, it wants to know who the person was and exactly where they lie (the cemetery and the grave’s section, row and number), a copy of the death certificate or coroner’s form, and written consent from the next of kin covering the relationship, where the remains will come from, what will happen to them, and that the family agrees. It also wants confirmation of space at any receiving cemetery, the funeral director doing the work, who is paying, and a proposed date.
In Victoria the application is Form 11, prescribed under the Cemeteries and Crematoria Regulations 2025, with a departmental checklist of supporting documents. An incomplete application is delayed and may be sent back.
When the answer may be no, or not yet
- Family disagreement (Victoria). Where objections within the family are expected, the department says the licence may be refused, or granted on condition that no exhumation takes place within 60 days of its issue.
- Infectious disease (NSW). Special care is taken where the person had a prescribed infectious disease; for diphtheria or tuberculosis, for example, exhumation is not permitted in the first year after burial except in exceptional circumstances.
- Burial without a coffin (NSW). Exhuming a body buried without a coffin is not banned, but NSW Health approves it only where the cemetery and the funeral director have agreed to go ahead, especially in the first three years.
- Heritage (NSW). A burial site over 50 years old counts as a relic under the Heritage Act 1977. If it is on the State Heritage Register, the Heritage Council of NSW must also approve, and a health approval does not replace that.
- Cremating exhumed remains (NSW). Remains that have been buried for more than 10 years can be exempted from the usual cremation permit requirements, on application and with a fee. NSW Health says the 10-year minimum is strictly enforced.
Moves that are not exhumations
Two procedures move remains without needing an exhumation approval. In Victoria, a lift and reposition raises the remains already in a grave so another burial can be made there; it needs the trust’s written approval instead of a licence, and cannot happen within 10 years of the earlier burial. In NSW, a funeral director may take a coffin from a cemetery vault to a mortuary for repair, without a coroner’s order or the Secretary’s approval, as long as it is back in the cemetery within 24 hours.
A worked example: from NSW to another state
Example only. Dates are invented; the rules are NSW Health’s.
A family wants a parent’s remains, buried in NSW eight years ago, moved to a cemetery interstate where the rest of the family lies. The executor applies to the local public health unit.
- 2 MarchThe executor lodges the approved form, a certified copy of the death certificate, a statutory declaration and the fee.
- 16 MarchNSW Health approves, with conditions. The approval runs for three months, so the exhumation must take place by 16 June unless a different period is agreed.
- 20 AprilThe exhumation is carried out with an authorised officer present, and the remains leave NSW.
- 24 AprilThe remains are reburied in the cemetery interstate.
- By 22 MayWithin 28 days after the remains are disposed of outside NSW, here by the reburial on 24 April, the funeral director or whoever arranged the removal gives the NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages notice of the place and manner of disposal (Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995, section 41(2)).
Because the parent was buried less than 10 years ago, the exemption for cremating exhumed remains would not apply here if the family chose cremation instead. The receiving cemetery has its own process, which this entry does not cover.
NSW public health units can be reached on 1300 066 055, the number NSW Health gives for them.