It’s the kind of real estate you don’t think about, and yet it’s essential. Burial plots and graves in Sydney are prime property. And while they might not rate highly on the lifestyle agenda, like taxes, death will happen to all of us. So whether you’re wanting a cliff-top view of the Pacific Ocean, praying to be returned to the bush or dying to be cremated and sprinkled on a mellow stream – planning for death takes time and money.

Like all real estate it comes down to values. Your life priorities and religion (or lack thereof). It’s a family tradition, or a brave new era. But whichever path you choose, it is final. Like buying a home, buying into a cemetery is not something to take lightly.

As anyone who has attended a funeral lately will tell you, with death, the devil is in the detail. So why not look ahead with positivity? This month we review the top burial grounds in inner-city Sydney and explore the latest trends in interactive headstones. So brace yourself for a tour of Sydney’s prime addresses for undertakers, funeral directors and the grateful dead.

South Head

Who can deny the stunning, iconic location of South Head Cemetery in Watson’s Bay, Vaucluse? Today, the cemetery has over 6,000 gravesites and memorials over 4 acres. This is where you can find Australia’s first Prime Minister Sir Edmund Barton buried and search out mausoleum’s owned by the Packer and Fairfax families. Edmund Resch of Resch’s Brewery fame is buried here, along with author Frank Clune OBE, famous cricketer Victor Trumper and architect Howard Joseland. But don’t get your hopes up, this site at South Head is full to the brim!

Looking for other past Prime Ministers and notables who seem nowhere to be found? Well, think again. High profile people can be given occasional dispensations by council to be buried at home. It wouldn’t do if everyone wanted to be buried in the garden like a domesticated tabby cat – but if you are Malcolm Turnbull’s late father, then you are laid to rest on your private property in the Hunter Valley or if you are Kerry Packer, you’re 6 feet under at a modest 27,000 hectare property in Ellerston, Scone. Rumour has it Packer was farewelled at a very small funeral between some trees on a polo field. His hearse on funeral day was briefly interrupted by a passing heard of cattle. Way to go.

Waverley 

Australia’s most visited site, is that of AC/DC frontman Bon Scott. Located in Fremantle Western Australia, it pays homage to the legendary singer who died when he choked on his own vomit at 33 years of age. But the second most visited cemetery in Australia is Waverley.

The Waverley Cemetery situated on the coastal walk between Bronte and Clovelly, is perhaps the most picturesque boneyard in the world.  Sure it doesn’t house Oscar Wilde like Pere Lachaise in Paris, but who can deny the sweeping ocean views it affords the deceased and visiting relos.

Waverley hosts a historic tour of its many Edwardian and Victoria tombstones every week and is carefully maintained by Friends of the Waverley Cemetery. They just don’t make burial grounds quite like this anymore. Here lies Jules Archibald of the Archibald painting prize fame and the wonderful poet Dorothea Mackellar  (I love a sunburnt country…) and fellow writer and poet Henry Lawson.

While you can still pre-purchase a few of the rare plots at Waverley Cemetery, they don’t come cheap. In general burial plots vary greatly in price – from those advertised on Gumtree for $1,100 a pop at Kemps Creek, to those vertical plots that can cost $35,000 for a set of six at Rookwood.

Famous graves around the world belong to Jim Morrison in Paris, Elvis in Graceland USA, Frank Sinatra in Cathedral City, California and Princess Diana at Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire. They become tourist attractions and even pay per visit events. When David Bowie died this year he was cremated and requested no permanent shrine (like Freddie Mercury). He had no public funeral and kept the burial site of his ashes a secret. When Chrissy Amphlett died in Manhattan in 2013, she was also cremated and her ashes given to a friend to keep. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

To this end, the entire trend around burials are currently changing, not just because of space, but because of the way we are choosing to commemorate people in the digital era. If traditional the burial options are all still sounding a bit lacklustre and you want something a bit more futuristic, then why not get the US company Mesoloft to shoot your ashes into outer space?

Mesoloft offer a commemorative service during which the cremated remains are launched into the sky. When the rocket powered urn reaches the appropriate altitude, it is opened and the remains scatter in the sky. If this is the new pauper or renter’s grave – why buy when you can be eternally free?

Mortuary Station

Feeling like a macabre trip down memory lane? Then why not visit Mortuary Station. No longer in use, this landmark train station was built for transporting dead bodies to the Rookwood crematorium and cemetery. The ornate Gothic building designed by colonial architect James Barnet incorporates elements from the Venetian 13th century Gothic style. Used today for events like the Sydney Biennale, its walls support sculpture by Thomas Ducket and Henry Apperly who worked on the elaborate carvings including angels, cherubs, and gargoyles.

Interestingly Mortuary Station didn’t just service Rookwood cemetery with dead bodies, in its day the train also went to Woronora General Cemetery in Sutherland and Sandgate Cemetery in Newcastle. Not surprisingly, big old cemeteries and church side graveyards abound in Sydney. Macquarie Park, French’s Forest and Ryde all still have space for new burials. Camperdown Cemetery is now closed.

Rookwood 

Rookwood Cemetery is still open and has been operating continuously since 1867. As the largest Victorian-era cemetery still in operation in the world, Rookwood is of national and historical significance. Notables buried there include the newspaper mogul John Fairfax 1804-1877; businessman and underworld figure Abe Saffron 1919-2006; poet Kenneth Slessor; brewer James Toohey and Lillian Fowler, Australia’s first female mayor. Single plots in the lawned and monumental areas cost between $7,000 and $8,000 with continual care packaged up as part of the price.

Interested in paying your respects to war heroes somewhere besides the inner-city Hyde Park memorial? Then Gore Hill is the place to go.

Gore Hill 

Gore Hill Cemetery located at St Leonards, is one of the largest and oldest cemeteries in NSW. Though it is no longer in use, it makes for an iconic, familiar and very Aussie-looking landscape with its tombstones dwarfed by towering palm trees. Gore Hill, which operated from 1877 to 1974, holds close to 15,000 burials mainly from 1900 and the 1930s. Notables at Gore Hill include members of the Hordern family and the politically inclined Sargood families.

Wondering about the old colony? Then wonder no longer. The Old Burial Ground that served the colony up until 1867 was located where Town Hall is today. It was replaced by the Devonshire Street Cemetery on the site of Central Station, which was exhumed before the current Central Station buildings were opened in 1906. The remains exhumed from the cemetery were re-interred at several other Sydney cemeteries including Rookwood and Waverley cemeteries. Bodies were moved to Botany by steam tram motors and flat cars.

Fairlight

Not sure how you want to be commemorated? Well think of Fairlight Cemetery, a beautiful little boneyard located in the elbow of land between Balgowlah and Manly. With a park at one end and in charming proximity to the harbour, Fairlight is the kind of cemetery you don’t mind walking through at night. And hosting a funeral there is one you might even consider sharing on the web.

Because when someone passes away, the funeral and memorial services play such an important part of the grieving process – more people today are taking up the option to ‘share the love’ through technology. It is becoming increasingly popular to webcast funeral services to allow others to participate in the service from a distance. In our increasing secular society, people commemorate lives in a less commercialised and less productised fashion – even using arty films, vibrant interactive social media and digital fan pages instead. While the concept of liking a eulogy post is a bit off – we are hopeful that technology will catch up. Perhaps a ‘condolences’ emoji is next from Facebook?

Rites and rituals

Someone who is well across the latest trends in the funeral process is Kylee Stephens from new breed funeral home, The House. With a background working in high-end fashion for designers like Dion Lee – Stephens worked with a statistician for a year to thoroughly research the industry before she launching her business in early 2016.

“We have been trading for 4 months and have done 6 funerals,” she says. “We are end-to-end. We do everything from the arranging, to the planning, to the mortuary care, transportation and the supply of the coffins. Our point of difference is choice – that you get to choose a service that you want to see done your way” Stephens says.

The House is finding a niche in bespoke funerals that personalise elements of design, architecture, food, performance and lighting. Making memorials, funerals, wakes and ceremonies like art exhibitions that are dealing with the theme of memory, rather than dowdy sombre occasions with funeral home branded bottles of water and tissues. Despite how or where you are buried – the ceremony in general provides a sense of peace. Stephens says The House plans to shake up the industry by bringing more creativity to these events.

If you are unsure how to feel about this, then think of Marilyn Monroe’s grave in Los Angeles. Marilyn has a crypt devoted to her and is one of the most visited in the world. Rumour has it that Hugh Hefner has already reserved a place beside her for when he finally dies.

But even more romantically Joe DiMaggio, who she was married to for a total of 274 days, was so heart broken when Marilyn died, that he sent red roses to her grave 3 times a week for 20 years. In this case, it appears even death became her.