Hundreds of Australians, including veterans, buried in unmarked communal graves

People unable to pay for funerals are being buried in unmarked communal graves in New South Wales. Those buried include Vietnam veterans, rough sleepers, cancer sufferers, people with addictions or severe mental illness, and migrants.

A Guardian Australia investigation identified more than 100 such graves in New South Wales, as well as some in Queensland. At Sydney’s Rookwood cemetery, each plot contains the remains of four to six unrelated people.

In at least six cases, relatives, friends or support workers were not told about the death or the burial arrangements. The failures may breach a state policy intended to avoid unnecessary distress for people who might have arranged different funerals.

Veterans were not referred for federal aid

Two Vietnam veterans who served in the Royal Australian Navy were buried in unmarked communal graves in 2024 and 2025. Although a federal program provides funeral assistance for impoverished veterans, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs was not asked to provide funding.

During the first half of this year, more than 40 people were buried along a 17-metre stretch beside a dirt path at Rookwood. The area has no marker; an inspection of hundreds of burial sites since 2010 found crosses or plaques at only about a dozen plots.

Families and charities were not informed

Relatives described the practice as degrading. Chantel Dubsky said her brother Roger Davies, who had been sleeping rough, was buried with four strangers at Rookwood without her knowledge.

The Rev Bill Crews Foundation, a Sydney homelessness charity, said it was not notified about the deaths of three clients. Its leader said the foundation would have paid for dignified funerals and cremations.

NSW Health promises procedural changes

NSW Health apologised, acknowledging that failures meant deceased people, families and friends were not always treated with dignity. In 2025, the department began changing the process, taking greater control from police and establishing a six-person team to seek alternative funeral arrangements and funding.

Health minister Ryan Park called the failures unacceptable. Metropolitan Memorial Parks, which operates Rookwood general cemetery, said the government did not fund grave markers for people without means and rejected claims that the burials were placed between individual headstones or beneath walkways.