Impoverished Australians, including war veterans and rough sleepers, are being buried in unmarked communal plots often holding four or more people across New South Wales and Queensland.
Unmarked Plots and Missing Families at Rookwood
Guardian Australia established that the New South Wales government uses bare strips of earth between dirt walkways and old headstones at Rookwood cemetery in Sydney. These communal graves hold the remains of four to six strangers together. Among those interred in these plots are war veterans, cancer sufferers, people struggling with severe mental illness and gambling addictions, and migrants whose families cannot afford high repatriation costs.
Aerial imagery shows new graves appearing at Rookwood cemetery between 2025 and 2026. In the first half of this year alone, a 17-metre stretch of earth adjacent to a dirt pathway was dug up to bury more than 40 people in unmarked communal plots. Inspections of hundreds of other burials at Rookwood since 2010 reveal that only about a dozen feature crosses or plaques, leaving the vast majority completely unidentified.
Outrage Across the Homelessness Sector and Veterans’ Affairs
Sydney’s homelessness sector expressed deep frustration over the revelations. Leaders of homelessness services stated they were never informed about the use of communal graves, denying them the opportunity to intervene and fund proper burials for their clients. The Rev Bill Crews Foundation, an inner-city Sydney charity, repeatedly raised concerns with the state government about unmarked burials but reported being ignored. Crews identified three of his clients among those interred, noting they would have received dignified cremations and proper services had the foundation known.
The investigation also uncovered that two Vietnam War veterans who served in the Royal Australian Navy were buried in unmarked communal graves in 2024 and 2025. These burials occurred despite the availability of a federal funding program managed by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) to assist impoverished veterans. New South Wales policy recommends that state health authorities approach DVA in such cases, but the agency confirmed it has not been asked to help fund the burials of destitute persons since 2020.
Similar concerns extend beyond New South Wales. In Queensland, markings are generally not used for the smaller number of people buried under its scheme, though communal burials remain rarer there. The situation stands in stark contrast to Victoria, where each individual receives a separate grave and a simple marker identifying who rests below.
| Jurisdiction | Burial Method | Individual Markings | Federal/State Support Utilization |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Communal graves (4 to 6 strangers per plot) | Rare (only about a dozen marked out of hundreds since 2010) | DVA funding for veterans underutilized; policy recommendations bypassed |
| Victoria | Individual graves | Standard (simple marking for each person) | |
| Queensland | Communal schemes (rarer occurrence) | Generally unmarked |
NSW Government Pledges Person-Centred Funeral Reforms
A spokesperson stated that all deceased persons deserve proper treatment regardless of financial circumstances.
State ministers also weighed in on the administrative failures. Health Minister Ryan Park described the lapses as unacceptable. The state government pointed to changes made in 2025 and recent months to establish a more person-centred approach. These adjustments include transferring greater control to New South Wales Health away from police and creating a dedicated six-person team to coordinate alternative funeral arrangements and secure support from willing families or community organizations.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Memorial Parks, which operates Rookwood general cemetery, stated that the state government does not fund grave markings for individuals without financial means. The operator noted that multi-interment plots are not restricted solely to destitute burials and rejected claims that bodies were placed under walkways or between individual headstones.
Families continue to demand accountability. Barbara Davis, whose foster daughter Christine Halpin was buried in an unmarked grave at Rookwood in 1989, remains frustrated. “It is a disgrace,” Davis said. “Whether you’re a prince or a pauper, you deserve a decent burial site, even just with a wooden cross with your name on it.”
