Oz to get satnav cemetery for Down Under dead

An Australian council has dug-up plans to launch GPS burial sites, allowing bereaved friends and family to find the final outback resting place of a loved one with a satnav.

The burial site is in bushland attached to the Lismore Memorial Park Cemetery in New South Wales and has been created to cater for a rise in the number of people seeking eco-friendly interments. Burial sites can be picked out personally, and Lismore Council then records the location's GPS co-ordinates.

Friends and relatives will be lent a GPS device each time they wish to visit the burial site, although Register Hardware is sure some people will just opt to record the location on their own gadget. By recording the GPS co-ordinates of each burial site, the council will also ensure that GPS trackers aren’t left to rot in the ground.

According to one local report, Lismore Council also requires grave-markers to be made from natural rock, and it prefers relatives to pick coffins made from “woven wicker, plantation pine or recycled cardboard”.

The council will begin offering cutting-edge eco funerals from 1 July for about AU$2000 (£950/€1200/$1900). Conventional burials cost around $3000 (£1950/€2200/$2900).

But the Australian council hasn’t announced any plans to hang webcams from trees so that relatives can pay their respects without emitting carbon by travelling to the site.