Cairns Regional Council offer the option at the time of burial to dig a new grave to a double depth. This means that in the future, the grave site can be used again for another family member to be buried on top. This may be a useful option if you want your family to be buried closely together but there are no new grave sites nearby. In this situation you would only pay the reservation fee once.
Martyn Street Cemetery is almost completely reserved which means that, while there are still unused sites, a majority of them have been purchased and reserved for future burials. There are many unreserved sites available at Forest View Cemetery and there are plans to expand in the future.
Things to note about double depth burials:
- It is not always possible for the Council to dig to double depth due to the ground conditions (ie. large rocks, water table etc). You won’t know until the day of the burial whether double depth is possible
- You can opt for double depth on the interment application form. If you don’t opt for double depth on this form, the person will be buried at a single depth.
- If, at a later date, you want to have a second burial in a site which has an existing burial at single depth, you would need to pay for the first burial to be “exhumed” and re-buried. This can be very costly.
- Once the second burial has occurred, you can replace the original plaque or headstone with a new one that also records the second burial.
- If you own the site of the first burial, only people that you authorised can be buried on top. The Council cannot authorise any other people to be buried there, only you can authorise that.
