How cremation works

The steps below follow the order in which things happen. Much of the course takes place out of sight, but knowing what it involves can make the waiting easier, and it helps when a form asks a question that seems to come from nowhere.

The course, from permission to ashes

1. Permission is given in writing

   Nothing happens until someone has applied and permission has been granted. In Victoria, the application goes to a cemetery trust that provides cremation services, and it is an offence to cremate a body without a cremation approval. In Queensland, a person must not cremate human remains without a permission to cremate, issued by a coroner or by a doctor who did not sign the cause of death certificate or the cremation risk certificate. In NSW, a medical referee issues a cremation permit.

   The forms in each state are on paperwork before a cremation.

2. A check for anything that should not go into the cremator

   Before permission is given, the doctor checks for anything in the body that could be dangerous in the cremator.

3. The coffin

   In NSW, the Public Health Regulation 2022 requires every cremation, including a direct cremation, to use a coffin. NSW Health can approve a cremation without one, for a particular case or generally, and it considers the culture, beliefs, traditions and religious practices of the person and their family. The person is then wrapped in a shroud, such as cotton or linen sheeting, laid on a flat baseboard, such as timber, and given a second covering. An approval for a single case is valid for three months.

   In Victoria, remains brought into a public cemetery for cremation must be in a coffin, container or receptacle that meets the Cemeteries and Crematoria Regulations and is clearly labelled. The cemetery trust may inspect a coffin and its contents to make sure neither will impede the cremation or damage the cremator.

4. One person at a time

   In NSW, each cremator takes one person at a time; cremating two together needs NSW Health’s approval. The point of the rule is that the ashes a family receives are not mixed with anyone else’s. Even when a family asks for two people to be cremated together, NSW Health notes that the chamber is generally not large enough for two adult-sized coffins.

5. The cremation

   Some families choose to be present. Brisbane City Council, for example, lists a “witness cremation” at one of its crematoria, for which the chapel must be hired. Whether this is possible elsewhere is a question for the crematorium. Whether ashes are safe to handle is answered on scattering ashes.

6. The ashes are prepared

   NSW Health describes what follows. The ashes are removed into a metal container and left to cool. They are then placed in a machine that reduces the size of the larger pieces, some using a metal ball in a rotating drum. Finally they are packed into a labelled plastic container, or a name plate is attached, and stored in a secure area. Queensland’s Act requires the person in charge of a crematorium to label the ashes as the regulations require.

7. The ashes are handed back

   In Victoria, the cemetery trust must make the ashes available for collection within 2 working days of the cremation, and may hand them only to the applicant, to someone acting for the applicant, or, in some circumstances, to the closest surviving relative. In NSW, the ashes are given to the applicant, usually a family member. In Queensland, the crematorium must not dispose of the ashes except in line with the applicant’s reasonable written instructions.

   What happens if no one collects them, and how long they are held: keeping or sharing ashes.

Words you may meet on the forms

Applicant

The person who applies for the cremation. NSW Health says this is often a relative or the executor of the estate, and that the applicant is the person who should arrange to collect the ashes.

Cremation authority

The term NSW Health uses for the body that has agreed to carry out a cremation. Under the regulation it must give the ashes to the applicant, or otherwise retain or dispose of them as the regulation allows.

Cemetery trust

In Victoria, the trust that manages a public cemetery. A trust that provides cremation services receives the application and grants the cremation approval.

Medical referee

In NSW and Western Australia, the doctor who issues the permit to cremate.

Retort

The chamber in which the cremation takes place; NSW Health’s pages call it the cremation retort or crematory retort.