Cremation and memorialisation

Stage one Complete and submit an Application for installation of plaque or headstone. This form can be submitted at any customer service centre or to the Cemetery Services office at Kulangoor Cemetery.

Stage two Our Cemetery Services Team will contact you to assist you with selecting a site and to discuss your memorial design.

Stage three We will complete the memorial design proof and quote, for your approval and payment.

Stage four We will order your memorial and contact you to arrange the ashes interment once the memorial is received.

Yes. There are a range of suppliers that can design and install your memorial. If this is your preference, the supplier will ensure that your selected memorial is constructed appropriately for installation in Council cemeteries. Please be aware that only Council provides interment services within the Cemetery network. It is necessary to select a site and book the interment with our Cemetery Services Team (fees apply). 

It depends on the type of site you have selected. If you have an existing site (tree site, garden site or burial site), you can inter the ashes and order the memorial at a later time. In this case, the ashes interment is completed and the site is marked with a temporary site marker that can then be replaced with a permanent memorial. However, niche wall sites require that the memorial and interment occur at the same time, as the memorial plaque seals the niche (protecting the ashes from loss and the elements).

Stage one Complete and submit an Application for ashes interment. Submit at any customer service centre or the Cemetery Services office at Kulangoor Cemetery.

Stage two Our Cemetery Services Team will contact you to select a site (if required).

Stage three You will receive an invoice for the site and ashes interment.

Stage four Once payment has been received, we will provide you with a confirmation of the interment site and the scheduled date for the interment. 

Many of our ashes sites can accommodate multiple interments. In most circumstances, each in-ground ashes site is prepared to accommodate two sets of ashes. The additional interment can occur at the same time, or may occur at a later date. Most niche wall sites cannot accommodate double interments, but you can reserve two sites next to each other. The two niche wall sites can then be enclosed with a memorial plaque for each niche site. Alternatively, in some locations one large memorial plaque can be designed to cover both niche sites. Double plaque niche sites are not available at all of our cemeteries. Please refer to niche walls for example plaque designs and availability.

Yes. Please refer to our fact sheet about reserving an ashes site.

Across our cemetery network we have a range of ashes site options and varying memorial options at each location. We recommend contacting our Cemetery Services team to discuss the options available at the cemetery you have chosen.

We ask that you book your ashes placement a minimum of a week before the interment date. Please be aware that our calendar is often booked in advance. If wish to nominate a particular date or anniversary, we recommend booking four weeks prior to the interment.

Yes. Our Cemetery Services Team can complete the interment and installation of the memorial in your absence. We will send you a photo of the completed memorial, for your records. Families can then visit the cemetery in their own time, and or arrange a memorial event at a later date.

Our usual hours of operation are:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday - 8.30am–4.30pm and
Wednesday - 10:30am–4.30pm. 

Interments can be booked outside of these hours, however additional fees apply. Please contact our team to make a special booking arrangment if a weekend is preferred.

We ask that you provide as much notice as possible, so that we can accommodate the new booking date in our calendar. This is particularly important if you would like to re-schedule the date to a special date or anniversary. Our calendar is often booked well in advance. Alternatively, you may decide that the interment and/or memorial installation should proceed with no family present.

Unfortunately, we have limited capacity to care for ashes onsite at our cemetery office. If you reschedule the interment at the time of the cancellation, we can continue to care for the ashes in preparation for the new interment date. However, if you are not yet ready to re-schedule and the interment is likely to be delayed by more than three months, we ask that you collect your loved one’s ashes from our office.  

We recommend that you keep the ashes container and bring them on the day of the interment. However, we can hold ashes at our cemetery office in the days immediately preceding the booked interment date. In order to hold the ashes at our Kulangoor office, we do ask that:

• the interment has been booked
• you have nominated a future directive and 
• any fees relating to the interment have been finalised.

Ashes can be placed directly into an in-ground site (with no container) or they can be interred inside the container. When making this decision, families generally consider the likelihood that the ashes will need to be recovered and/or relocated at a later time. Recovery and relocation is only possible when ashes are interred inside an existing container.

Our niche wall sites can only accommodate small containers. Most of our niche wall sites can accommodate containers with dimensions: L 220mm x W 110mm x H 85mm. We also have three niche walls in our cemetery network that can only accommodate small cylinder containers. They are: 

• RSL wall at Buderim
• RSL wall at Caloundra 
• Woombye niche wall. 

These cylinders have the following dimensions: L 155mm x W 103mm. If your current container exceeds these sizes, it is likely that you will need to divide the ashes before interment. 

If you have chosen a niche wall site before the cremation, please request a container with appropriate dimensions from the funeral director. Alternatively, our Cemetery Services Team can transfer ashes into the correct container prior to the interment. If this is the preferred option, please bring the ashes to the Cemetery Services office at Kulangoor Cemetery, five business days prior to the booked interment.

There are a range of options that can be considered for excess ashes. Our Cemetery Services Team can return the excess ashes to you on the day of the interment. Many families choose to scatter this portion of ashes at home or in a special location. Alternatively, the ashes can be scattered in a cemetery garden, close to the niche wall interment site. If you have chosen a niche wall site, our Cemetery Team will record your direction for any excess ashes, when the ashes are received in our office.

A future directive is requested for ashes, when ashes are left in the care of the Cemetery Services Team. A future directive provides us with a course of action for your loved one’s ashes, in the event that we are unable to contact you. Your future directive may be to contact an alternative next of kin or you may wish for the interment to proceed in your absence. A future directive ensures we can honour your wishes and ensure your loved one is laid to rest. Please be aware that every effort will be made to contact you before any future directive is followed.

Only the burial rights holder can make decisions regarding your chosen site and accompanying memorial. Generally, the burial rights holder is the person who purchased the site or arranged the burial. Please refer to our information sheet for details on the rights and responsibilities of the burial rights holder.

The details of the interment service and who attends the service are at your discretion. Some loved ones choose to have formal readings and prepared memorials. Others prefer a more informal placement event. Family and loved ones decide the details and organisation of these events. For small informal interments, our team will stay for the duration of the process. If you decide to arrange a more formal service, our team will meet you at the site. They will leave during the service and then return once the service is complete.

On the day of the interment, invited loved ones will gather at the selected location. Our Cemetery Operations team will prepare the site before your arrival. This includes the installation of the completed memorial and the ground works. We also provide a mat for family to kneel on during ashes placement. High quality sand or soil is provided for family members to place in the site, during or after the interment. Once the interment is complete, our team member will take a photo of the site for our records.  

On the day of the interment, invited loved ones will gather at the selected location. Our cemetery Operations team or a family member can place the ashes in the selected niche site. Once the ashes are safely located within the niche, we will attach the memorial plaque to enclose the site.