Wagga Wagga Monumental Cemetery is among the city’s six burial options. Photo: Wald1siedel.
While everyone is talking about the skyrocketing cost of living, the cost of dying is also on the rise.
Let’s take a look at the real estate prices for a final resting place in both Griffith and Wagga.
Focusing solely on the land itself at council-run cemeteries – and excluding options for ashes – prices start at $2474 for Griffith residents but can stretch to $5860 for those in Wagga Wagga. These prices are only for basic burials for adults, and do not include the cost of other memorial services.
Griffith City Council manages three cemeteries: Bagtown Cemetery at Pedley Road, Griffith Cemetery at Corner Wakaden Street and Blumer Avenue, and Yenda Cemetery.
No burials are permitted at Bagtown, however. It is a historic site only. A new cemetery site has been proposed for Rifle Range Road at Lake Wyangan.
According to Griffith City Council’s latest 2025-26 budget, you’re looking at $2474 for a double-depth, single plot in the general section. This does not come with a plaque but includes a permit to bury ($268), allowing you to be interred at a particular location.
The same type of land in the lawn section, which is “well-kept, fully maintained” and offers the security of “knowing that the graves will always be looked after”, includes a plaque but sets you back $3575.
If you’d like extra room (or more depth), it would be a one-time cost of $238 for both types of land.
Wagga Wagga City Council manages six sites to be laid to rest in: Brunskill Road, Kooringal Road, Tarcutta, Humula, Currawarna and Uranquinty.
At $5860, land there costs significantly more compared with Griffith, according to the Wagga Wagga City Council in 2025-26. This includes interment rights (similar to a permit to bury), site development, maintenance and work around burial (such as excavation of the gravesite and administrative paperwork for the burial).
Wagga Wagga Monumental Cemetery at Kooringal Road is closer to the Botanic Gardens, and to the city if you’d like to be surrounded by its bustle.
Going past Kooringal Road is Wagga Wagga Crematorium and Lawn Cemetery at Brunskill Road, a short walk to Lake Albert if you’d prefer more nature and a scenic view of the lake.
If you dislike being close to the city centre and would prefer a quieter resting place, the Rural Cemeteries in Tarcutta, Humula, Currawarna and Uranquinty, which are slightly further out, are good options.
They say you can’t take your money with you, but it can certainly carry you to your final resting place – if location matters to you.
Otherwise, rock on.
