Cemetery FAQs

An Interment Right (formerly known as a Burial Licence/Right of Burial) is a contract with a cemetery operator (granted by Council or its predecessors).

It allows the interment, burial or ashes, to take place in a burial plot or columbarium wall niche location in a cemetery.

There is no entitlement to any land or property. An Interment Right can be purchased to reserve a site or to be used immediately for a burial/interment.

The holder of the Interment Right is the only person able to choose who can be interred (buried) in the grave or cremation site/plot. They can also allow the installation of headstones, inscriptions, or memorials on the site.

The Order for Interment needs to be lodged with Council before the burial/placement in one of our cemeteries.

The Order for Interment application must be completed and signed by the Interment Right holder.

The Funeral Director allocates an available gravesite. Alternatively, a site can be reserved for future use.  

An Order for Interment is required for each interment, new or reopen.

An Interment Site is the location for the burial/ashes to be placed.       

The number of burials in a burial plot depends on:

• natural ground conditions
• depth of the first burial
• landform in the cemetery (rock, water table or type of soil)
• weather conditions.

Wall niche for ashes

A niche wall is a specially designed wall where ashes of the deceased are placed (only one set of ashes can be interred in each space). 

A bronze memorial plaque with inscription is installed over the 'niche'. 

Within the Byron Shire there are several options across the 4 cemeteries.

Visit Byron Shire Council Cemeteries for cemetery maps and interment register.

To ensure the safety of employees and visitors, please follow these guidelines. This helps us to mow, maintain and bury at our cemetery locations.

• Unauthorised kerbing or edging of any description, including concrete, timber, treated logs, ferrous material, bricks, or stones, cannot be placed around or in the perimeter of the gravesite.
• Please place any memorial vases and ornaments on the headstone area/concrete section of the site only.
• Place flowers in the containers that form part of the monument.
• Please do not use glass containers, vases, jars, or ornaments inside the cemetery.
• Plants, trees, shrubs, and potted plants and grave filling such as bark chips, stones, or gravel in, on or around the gravesite is prohibited.
• Ornamental flowers and decorations placed on the lawn surface may be removed to assist with mowing, maintenance or to access other areas of the site for further burials.
• Monuments can only be installed when approved or supplied by Council.
• Council reserves the right to realign or alter the position of the garden, niche wall or memorial boulder and/or allotments at its discretion.
• No monuments, excessive tributes, ornaments/ornamental flowers, containers/other plantings, or other items are allowed in, on or around the walls, boulders, or gardens. Council reserves the right to remove or dispose of these without notice.
• All work in the cemetery (monument, memorial, plants etc.) must be authorised by Council.