NDAN - Natural Death Advocacy Network

07/06/2026

Where Can You Have A Natural Burial?

Natural burial is the practice of burying a human body in the earth, in a manner that allows for natural decomposition with minimal impact on the surrounding ecosystem. -Natural Death Advocacy Network (NDAN)

There are a growing number of cemeteries and Councils who are promoting natural or bushland burial alternatives within their community.

In 2020, NDAN did a survey of natural burial ground offerings in Australia, at that time there were 14 sites. When we revisited this in 2024, the number had doubled. This is a growing offering, with a strong community-driven push for mainstream services to develop it as a viable option.

Some of these offerings can be confusing, with each place offering something slightly different. The confusion has been further compounded by the absence of a standard definition of what constitutes a natural burial in Australia. With no clear, unified definition, NDAN has taken steps to establish what we consider to be a best practice standard for a natural burial.

Visit our website (https://ndan.com.au/resources/natural-burial-grounds) to learn more.

If you would like to know more, please send us an email and we will happy to talk through any questions.

04/06/2026

Bookings are now open for our next event - Ashes; Expanding options and approaches.

The rates of cremation have increased dramatically the last few decades and we know that not everyone wants to be buried. This increase has left many people asking, what do we do, how do we create meaning-making and memorialise our peoples ashes? Some people in Australia are offering new and unique ways of doing just that and they are going to share these with us in this session.

Join us online on 25-June to hear from our guest panelists for this event are Hayley Bangham from Conscious Clay - Ceramic with ash glazes, Craig Hull from Ashes to Ashes Fireworks Funerals and Peter Russell from Reterniti.

Bookings are essential via the following link - https://www.trybooking.com/DLJCV

29/05/2026

In Australia, a 'home funeral' has become a broad term for family and/or community led home-based care of a person from the time of death until the disposition of their body. This may involve caring for the body at home, holding the funeral ceremony at home, or both—and often encourages environmentally conscious practices and decisions.

Visit our website (www.ndan.com.au) to download our flyer via the FAQ page.

26/05/2026

At NDAN, our mission is to provide individuals, families and communities with professional, creative and informed assistance to choose meaningful, humane and ecological pathways at the end of life. In support of this, we hold regular events about covering many topics associated with Natural Death.

Checkout our website (link in our bio) for our upcoming events and join in for any event that interests you.

23/05/2026

Have you organised a funeral in the past 6 - 24 months?

Researchers from La Trobe University and UNSW are inviting people over the age of 18 to take part in a survey about funerals and bereavement.

This study aims to explore how funeral practices and death care rituals are experienced by people who have organised an Australian funeral. Through a national survey, we are looking at the types of practices families choose, how supported they feel, and whether there were any unmet needs. We’ll also explore the factors that influence these decisions. The findings will help us understand more about supporting people after a death, and inform more person-centred, community-based approaches to bereavement care.

The survey takes 15 - 20 minutes, is voluntary and completely anonymous, and will help us understand how funeral practices shape people’s experiences of grief and bereavement.

To take part, use the QR Code or this link : https://redcap.link/funeralsandbereavementpublicsurvey

You are also welcome to share this with family or friends who were involved in organising the funeral.

This study has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of La Trobe University (Approval number HEC25463).

For questions or more information, please contact the research team listed in the linked information.

This project is being conducted by Dr Kerrie Noonan and Niki Read from La Trobe University and Dr Jane Mowll from UNSW.

20/05/2026

Home based death care is a model of after death care whereby family and friends of the deceased provide care instead of, or with minimal assistance from, professional funeral directors. Often, this will take place in the family home but can be in any home style setting that is chosen such as an aged care setting or in hospice. Home based death care provides families and friends the opportunity to care for their person in death as they may very well have done in life.

After the death of your person, if that death has not been at home, you can choose for them to be taken to your home or that of another friend or relative - a dead person does not need to go to a funeral home unless that is the preferred choice. Once your person is home, you are able to take whatever time you need to spend time with them, and to provide the after death care for your person you decide on. Common practices include: washing and dressing, shrouding, building a coffin, decorating a shroud, and holding ritual and ceremony.

If you are in a private home, you can keep your person with you there for several days without the intervention of embalming. The time frame around how long your person can remain with you varies across different States and Territories but general consensus in the home funeral movement suggests that depending on the manner of death, 3-5 days is a reasonable time to keep a body at home without any outward signs of decomposition being present.

Cooling needs to be in place within the first eight hours or so, and when caring for your person at home, best practice suggests that maintaining the body at 5 degrees Celsius is ideal.

More information about this can be found on our website https://ndan.com.au/resources/death-care/home-dying-and-death

16/05/2026

Here are some questions to consider when speaking with a natural burial ground manager or staff member:

Natural burial ground

🔵 Do you offer natural burials?

🔵 Is your whole cemetery dedicated to natural burials? … If not, is there a defined area where only natural burial occurs?

🔵 Is the natural burial ground currently or intended to be vegetated only with local native plants (i.e. bushland)? … If not, is the natural burial ground currently or intended to be paddock or pastoral land?

Natural graves

🔵 Are all graves for natural burial dug to a shallow depth, i.e. no more than 1 metre of soil above the body?

🔵 Do you restrict all natural burial graves to only one body?

🔵 Do you allow graves to be dug by hand?

🔵 Do you allow the coffin or body to be lowered by hand, i.e. without the aid of a powered machine?

🔵 Do you specify that only biodegradable and compostable items may be buried with the body?

🔵 Do you allow mourners to backfill the grave by hand?

🔵 Do you prohibit physical grave markers on natural burial graves?

🔵 If you allow visible grave markers, do you specify that they be made from untreated locally sourced natural material (stone, untreated wood, metal, clay)?

Natural burial

🔵 Do you allow shrouded burials?

🔵 Do you require that the body of the deceased is not embalmed and is not prepared with products containing plastic, synthetics, or chemicals?

🔵 Do you specify that the body of the deceased must be dressed or shrouded only in material made from plant or protein-based fibres?

🔵 Do you specify that coffins be made only from non-toxic, biodegradable materials, with no toxic glues, paints, varnishes or plastic fittings?

Integrity agreement

🔵 Are you able to provide a declaration form, signed by a family member or funeral director, confirming that the requirements for a natural burial have been met?

Learn more via our website - https://ndan.com.au/resources/natural-burial-grounds

16/05/2026

Well done to NDAN Committee member, Fiona McCuaig for all the work she is doing building burial space and weaving community at Walawaani Way Conservation Burial .
This will be on TV news, ABC NSW tonight.

After nearly 10 years getting public health and council approvals, a natural burial ground on the NSW south coast begins letting people have a simpler, more environmentally friendly farewell.

14/05/2026

NDAN is an acronym for Natural Death Advocacy Network.

We are a growing Australian network and advocacy partnership of community facilitators, professionals, activists and educators working to enrich the experience of dying and death.

Our Vision - Our aim is to create an informative, innovative and transparent organization advocating holistic approaches to dying and death through independent research and action. Our main areas of advocacy include death education, funeral planning, family lead funeral care, natural burial and bereavement care.

Our Mission - We provide individuals, families and communities with professional, creative and informed assistance to choose meaningful, humane and ecological pathways at the end of life.

So, whichever platform you use - be sure to give us a follow so we can reach more people who are interested in being part of or accessing a natural death.

11/05/2026

An End of Life (EOL) Doula - also known as a ‘Death’ Doula - to distinguish this role from a ‘Birth’ Doula - is someone who provides non-medical support and advocacy services to a dying person, their families, and those close to them. An EOL doula can provide a broad range of services depending on individual needs, including, but not limited to: the provision of practical and emotional support; resources; assistance; advocacy; and education to a person with a terminal or life limiting diagnosis or who is aging. This support service is also available to their family, friends and those close to them.

EOL Doulas are engaged prior to the death of a person, often from the point of receiving a terminal or life-limiting diagnosis. The nature and scope of their work is determined by the individual circumstances of the dying person.

As a rule, EOL doulas can be engaged by the person with the illness or who is aging, directly, or by the family and/or network of that person. The range and terms of services to be provided are discussed openly and agreed upon in advance.

Visit our website (https://ndan.com.au/resources/end-of-life-doula) to learn more or find a EOL Doula in Australia.