Natural Burial in Canberra: What It Involves and What It Costs

Natural burial in Canberra is a genuine, legally available option — not a fringe request. Canberra Memorial Parks has designated a specific section at Gungahlin Cemetery for natural burials, and the process is managed through the same application framework used for all burials in the ACT. If this is something your family is considering, understanding the specific requirements upfront will save you from planning something that can't be delivered.

What "natural burial" actually means in the ACT

A natural burial — also called a green burial — involves interring the body in a way that allows for natural decomposition without the use of embalming chemicals, non-biodegradable caskets, or concrete vaults. The aim is to minimize environmental impact and allow the body to return to the soil in a natural cycle.

In the ACT, natural burials are available exclusively at Gungahlin Cemetery and Crematorium, operated by Canberra Memorial Parks. Not all three ACT public cemeteries offer this option. Woden Cemetery and Hall Cemetery do not have dedicated natural burial sections.

The section at Gungahlin designated for natural burials operates under specific environmental and material conditions. The grave is dug shallower than a standard monumental lawn grave, the plot is not marked with a traditional headstone (native plantings and GPS coordinates are used instead), and the surrounding land is managed as a naturalized landscape rather than a manicured lawn.

Coffin and shroud requirements

This is where many families hit their first planning obstacle. Natural burials in the ACT carry strict requirements about what the body can be enclosed in:

What is permitted:

• Biodegradable coffins made from untreated wood, wicker, willow, or cardboard
• Natural fibre shrouds (wool, cotton, linen, hemp)

What is not permitted:

• Sealed caskets or coffins with metal components
• Coffins with synthetic linings, foam padding, or plastic inserts
• Embalmed remains (embalming involves preservative chemicals that prevent natural decomposition and directly contradict the purpose of a natural burial)
• Chipboard or MDF coffins (these contain formaldehyde resins and are not considered biodegradable for these purposes)

If you intend to source a biodegradable coffin independently — which you are legally entitled to do — make sure you disclose this to the funeral director upfront. The Australian Consumer Law, which is the applicable framework in the ACT in the absence of a sector-specific funeral pricing code, protects your right to supply your own coffin or container without incurring a penalty or "handling fee" from the funeral director. Any funeral director that imposes such a charge should be questioned directly.

What it costs

The fee structure at Canberra Memorial Parks for natural burials is one of the few areas where this option provides a meaningful cost advantage over a traditional burial.

For the 2025–26 financial year, the published government fee for a natural (green) burial at Gungahlin is $7,835. This covers the Right of Burial and the standard grave preparation.

By comparison, a standard monumental lawn grave at Gungahlin carries a government fee of $10,243 — approximately $2,400 more.

These are Canberra Memorial Parks' published government fees. Your funeral director's invoice will include these as disbursements, but it may also include an administrative markup. Ask your funeral director to provide the cemetery fee as a separately itemised line on their invoice, and cross-reference it against the published Canberra Memorial Parks fee schedule to ensure you are paying the actual government rate.

Additional costs to factor in:

• The funeral director's professional service fees (varies significantly between providers)
• The coffin or shroud (biodegradable coffins from specialist suppliers typically range from $200–$1,500 depending on material)
• Transport of the deceased to the cemetery
• The burial application and form processing

There is no headstone at a natural burial site in the traditional sense. Families can arrange for native plantings or a small ground-level marker, though the cemetery's specific conditions should be confirmed at the time of booking.

The application process

To arrange a natural burial in the ACT, the Executor (or the senior next of kin, if no Will exists) completes the Application for Burial form through Canberra Memorial Parks. This is the same form used for all burials — there is not a separate natural burial form. However, the application must specify that a natural burial section is requested, and the choice of coffin or shroud must comply with the cemetery's requirements.

The burial application must be lodged before the burial date is confirmed. Your funeral director will typically handle the lodgement as part of their service coordination, but you can also liaise directly with Canberra Memorial Parks.

One administrative detail families sometimes overlook: the death must be registered with Access Canberra — via the Death Registration Statement — but this registration occurs after the burial, not before. The burial itself proceeds on the authority of the Executor and the Application for Burial. The post-burial registration is handled by the funeral director.

Is embalming required?

No. Embalming is not a legal requirement for any burial in the ACT, including natural burials. The relevant statutory framework — the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2020 — does not mandate embalming as a condition of burial. Some funeral directors may recommend embalming for viewing or if there is a significant delay between death and burial, but it is not compulsory, and you can decline it.

For a natural burial specifically, embalming would disqualify the remains from the natural burial section. If you are planning a natural burial, make this clear to the funeral director at the first meeting so that refrigeration (not embalming) is used for preservation in the period between death and burial.

Home burial as an alternative

Some families researching natural burial also ask about the possibility of burying on private land in the ACT. This is legally possible under Section 15 of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2020, but the approval process is rigorous: written application to the ACT Regulator, proof that the burial won't contravene public health interests, and — critically — the burial becomes a permanent encumbrance on the land title. Future owners of the property must permit ongoing access to the gravesite. The practical and financial implications for property saleability are significant enough that home burial on private land is rarely the right option for most families.

If minimizing environmental impact and cost is the goal, the natural burial section at Gungahlin achieves that without the long-term land complications.

Getting the full picture before you commit

Natural burial sits at the intersection of consumer rights, environmental preferences, and ACT cemetery law. Families who approach funeral directors without knowing the applicable requirements — on biodegradable materials, on the prohibition on embalming, on the right to supply their own coffin — are at a disadvantage.

The ACT Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide covers the complete burial framework, including the Canberra Memorial Parks fee structure, your rights when supplying third-party coffins, and the full Application for Burial process — alongside the parallel tracks of death registration and estate administration.

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