Search
Close this search box.

Cemeteries

Waratah-Wynyard Council maintains cemeteries at Somerset, Yolla, Mount Hicks, Flowerdale, Waratah and Wynyard. However, only the Waratah and Wynyard Lawn cemeteries are still in use unless there is a prior reservation for one of the other cemeteries. 

Permits for burials are obtained through funeral directors.

Waratah Wynyard Council adopted a Cemetery Strategy in 2023 – the document can be viewed here.

In Waratah-Wynyard, cemetery plots cannot be purchased in advance but are allocated when a funeral director makes application for a burial to take place. It is possible for up to three interments to be made in a single plot (dependent upon depth of initial interment), which effectively accommodates the need for reservations that can eventually be used by other members of the family of the person first interred.

If cremation is chosen over burial, there are choices in where the ashes are then placed. Popular options are:

  • scattering in a garden or some other preferred spot
  • preservation in a decorative urn and kept at home
  • taken to a cemetery for burial in a small plot or placement in a columbarium.

Ashes are not classified as “human remains” in the  Burial and Cremation Amendment Act 2018, therefore there are no stated restrictions with regard to their disposal. However, as with burials, should you wish to inter ashes in a cemetery, please contact the Cemetery Manager.

A burial on private land is a burial other than in a cemetery. If you wish to organise a burial on private land, written permission must be obtained by the landholder and Council. Approval must also be sought from the Director of Public Health. The provisions covering burials on privately owned land are contained in section 41 of the Burial and Cremation Amendment Act 2018.

Council can provide you with information on the location of plots in our cemeteries.

The State Library of Tasmania has microfiche copies of the Tombstone and Memorial Inscriptions of Tasmania (TAMIOT), an index containing over 110,000 entries from 788 locations within Tasmania. 

The Tasmanian Family History Society  also maintains various cemetery records, including TAMIOT, as well as having many other publications to assist with historical research.