Rest in rural peace under the farm

A critical shortage of cemetery space has forced the New South Wales government to consider using private farmland for mass, unmarked burial sites.

Despite a wealth of open space in Australia, many municipal graveyards are expected to be filled in less than 10 years and those on Crown land in 25 years.

The shortages have prompted the state government to consider "natural burial" sites, which ban coffins, headstones and embalming, instead using shrouds and cardboard coffins.

The proposal, based on a British scheme, is being considered by the state cabinet.

Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported that other options being considered included family burials, which allow generations of family members to use the same burial plot, and the introduction of renewable tenure, under which graves could be reused.

In some cases relatives could use GPS co-ordinates to find the remains of loved ones.

A spokesman for the state lands department told the newspaper that a decision was expected within weeks.

Cemeteries and Crematoria Association of NSW president Michael McMahon, said alternatives were urgently needed.

"Natural burials means there are no headstones and you are buried in farmland," he told the Telegraph.

"It can have sheep and cattle and trees propagated on that land because you are six feet under. It is a natural process and leaves no environmental footprint."

He added that death should be demystified to allow shared grave sites.

"In the future, when a person buys a grave they get a maximum of 50 years. Your family have a chance to renew tenure but if they are not around you remain in that grave and they put other people in there with you. You are not lost, you are still in there, with other people."

But health laws make such burials difficult. Only one NSW cemetery, Lismore Memorial Gardens, conducts funerals without a coffin.