The Guardian
· collected 2026-10-05 · by Christopher Knaus and Ariel Bogle
Vietnam veterans, rough sleepers and other impoverished Australians are being buried in unmarked communal graves often holding four or more people, a practice relatives have described as “unspeakable” and “a disgrace”.
asserted
relatives → bury → people
A Guardian Australia investigation has identified more than 100 unmarked graves across New South Wales, and some in Queensland, that are being used by state governments to bury those deemed too poor to afford their own funerals.
asserted
that → identify → funerals
Using evidence from family, friends and the homelessness sector, together with analysis of cemetery registries and aerial imagery, the Guardian has established that the NSW government is using bare stretches of earth between dirt walkways and old headstones at Rookwood cemetery in Sydney to bury the remains of four to six strangers together in communal graves.
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government → use → graves
Among those being buried together are war veterans, cancer sufferers, people with gambling addictions and severe mental illness, and migrants from developing countries whose families cannot afford exorbitant repatriation costs.
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families → bury → costs
In at least six cases, the Guardian has identified failures by authorities that meant friends, family or support workers were either not contacted or not told of the use of unmarked and common graves.
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friends → identify → graves
The failures are likely breaches of a NSW policy designed to “avoid causing unnecessary distress to people who may have wished to make other funeral arrangements”.
uncertain
who → design → arrangements
Shocked family and friends say they have been left feeling robbed.
asserted
they → say → ?
“It’s unspeakable,” said Chantel Dubsky, whose brother Roger Davies, a rough sleeper, was buried in an unmarked grave with four strangers at Rookwood without her knowledge.
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brother → ’ → knowledge
“He should have had the opportunity to be laid to rest with his mother, his grandparents and the people he loved, at his home in Adelaide.
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he → have → Adelaide
By crosschecking names with homelessness services in Sydney, Guardian Australia has also identified a further 18 individuals in the communal graves who had experienced homelessness.
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who → crosschecke → homelessness
The homelessness sector is outraged by the revelations.
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sector → outrage → revelations
Two leaders in Sydney’s homelessness sector say they were never made aware of the practice of using unmarked communal graves and are not being given the chance to intervene on behalf of their clients to fund a proper burial.
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they → say → burial
A third service, the Rev Bill Crews Foundation, an inner-city Sydney homelessness charity, says it has repeatedly raised concerns with the state government about the possible use of unmarked and communal graves but has been ignored.
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it → say → graves
The Rev Bill Crews, who runs the foundation, identified three of his clients as being among those in the communal graves but said he had not been told about their deaths and impending burials.
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he → run → deaths
“It’s outrageous,” Crews said.
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Crews → ’ → ?
“We did not know – they would all have had a dignified funeral and a proper cremation, and their ashes would have been scattered in the sea.
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ashes → know → sea
The foundation regularly uses its own funds to conduct funeral services for rough sleepers when it becomes aware they have died.
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they → use → sleepers
It was given no notification in the three cases.
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It → give → cases
“For us, it’s frustrating.
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it → ’ → us
Guardian Australia has also established that two veterans of the Vietnam war, who both served in the Royal Australian Navy, were buried in unmarked communal graves in 2024 and 2025.
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who → establish → 2024
The pair were buried despite the availability of a federal funding program run by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to help pay for the funerals of impoverished veterans.
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pair → bury → veterans
NSW policy recommends state health authorities approach DVA in such cases.
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authorities → recommend → cases
DVA was never asked for funding for the 2024 and 2025 burials.
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DVA → ask → burials
A spokesperson said it has “not been approached to help fund the burials of destitute persons since 2020”.
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it → say → 2020
The Guardian’s investigation has prompted an apology from NSW Health, which has flagged changes to improve the process, and criticism from the health minister, Ryan Park, who described the failings as “unacceptable”.
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who → prompt → failings
In the first half of this year alone, a 17-metre stretch of earth adjacent to a dirt pathway at Rookwood has been dug up and used to bury the remains of more than 40 people in unmarked communal graves, including a rough sleeper who was well-known to most major homelessness services.
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who → dig → services
Nothing has been left to mark the 17-metre stretch of graves.
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Nothing → leave → graves
Inspections of the sites of hundreds of other burials at Rookwood since 2010 show only about a dozen are marked by crosses or plaques.
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dozen → show → crosses
The vast majority have no crosses, plaques or headstones to name the groups of deceased in each plot.
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majority → have → plot
Older sites, where the earth has settled, appear simply as long stretches of grass.
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earth → settle → grass
Markings are generally not used in Queensland for the smaller number of people buried under its scheme.
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Markings → use → scheme
The situation contrasts sharply with the process embraced by Victoria, where each individual is given their own grave and a simple marking, identifying who is interred below.
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who → contrast → grave
The NSW government has previously pledged to stop the use of unmarked graves for destitute burials.
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government → pledge → burials
That came after lobbying by Barbara Davis, who was never told that her foster daughter Christine Halpin had been buried in Rookwood in 1989.
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daughter → come → 1989
Davis and Christine’s biological daughter Jayne say they were told by the NSW government in 2013 that the use of unmarked graves would cease.
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use → say → graves
The cemetery erected a “path of remembrance” that allows people to pay more than $800 to put a plaque on a rock, about 1km from some of the gravesites, but this has been used in a few dozen cases since 2020.
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this → erect → 2020
Christine’s gravesite remains unmarked.
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gravesite → remain → ?
“It is a disgrace,” Davis said.
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Davis → say → ?
“Whether you’re a prince or a pauper, you deserve a decent burial site, even just with a wooden cross with your name on it.”
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you → ’re → it
In another case, a young Fijian who came to Australia to play rugby in Leeton, in NSW’s Riverina region, was buried in a communal unmarked grave after dying of cancer in 2022.
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who → come → 2022
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
