Angelika Erpic feels immensely peaceful when she looks out over the place where she will come when she dies.
Leaning against a centuries-old gum tree in Bodalla on the NSW south coast, overlooking rolling hills with grazing cows and a white heron cruising in for a water landing on the dam, she can’t think of anywhere better to lie forever.
The 73-year-old Wollongong resident was one of the first to secure a plot at Walawaani Way — Australia’s first 100 per cent natural burial and conservation cemetery — after it officially opened on the Winter Solstice.
“I can sit here and see the birds and the trees, and it would be a lovely place to go and rest,” she said.
When her time comes, Ms Erpic’s body will be buried alongside others in a disused cattle paddock, with a native tree of her choice as the only grave marker.
The aim is for the cemetery to, over time, reforest an 18-hectare farm.
Natural burial is an alternative to traditional cremation or casket burials.
It aims to reduce the environmental footprint of the burial process by not embalming the body with plastics and by burying it in a decomposable coffin made from cardboard or cane, without any glue, lacquer or screws.
It’s also possible to forgo a coffin entirely and be buried six feet down wrapped in a simple shroud.
Environmentally sustainable burials are already possible in Australia, however Walawaani Way is the first cemetery to offer only natural burials, and so far has 35 plots available.
Giving back to the earth
Ms Erpic had never thought much about burial until she stumbled upon a newspaper article about Walawaani Way and was instantly fascinated.
“I thought: this sounds perfect — exactly where I would want to be buried,” she said.
(ABC South East NSW: James Tugwell)
“The earth has given me much in my life. This way, I’m going back to the earth and the fact there is a forest there in perpetuity is magnificent,” Ms Erpic said.
When her husband died 18 years ago, Ms Erpic was sad to realise his body was treated with chemicals and put in a single-use, plastic-lined coffin and cremated.
“It just didn’t seem quite right,” she said.
“Now when I die, the worms will get me. Which, to me, is the right way to go — I should be returned to the earth.”
‘It’s a cemetery full of life’
Walawaani Way founder Fiona McCuig said more people were wanting their last decision in life to be a gift back to the planet.
Although she works in the death industry, she is surprised such a sad topic can be “so beautiful”.
“It’s a cemetery that is full of life,” she said.
“We want to create a place where people can visit their loved ones and it’s a beautiful, happy place.
“It’s not a place of death, it’s a living ecosystem. It’s the way we were meant to be.”
Ms McCuig said the eight-year process to get all the necessary council approvals had not been easy, but had ensured the process was done safely and properly.
“People want us to do the best thing for the environment, because that’s why they want to be there,” she said.
A flagship and conversation starter
Education-based, not-for-profit organisation Natural Death Advocacy Network Australia — of which Walawaani Way is a member — recorded 14 natural burial sites nationally in 2020.
That number had doubled by 2023.
The network’s president, Rebecca Lyons, said the opening of the first entirely-natural cemetery was a big step forward and a conversation starter.
“Everything needs its flagship, and this is the first in Australia,” she said.
“There are a lot of people working on doing this, but this is the first one across the line.
“What it shows is that the Australian public is actually ready for alternatives.”
Ms Lyons said the practice was popular because it was cheaper and better for the environment.
“If we want to live and die the way that aligns with our ethical values, then natural burial is an integral part of that conversation,” she said.
“You can do something good for the environment and save money.”
According to the federal government’s Moneysmart site, funerals in Australia can cost “from $4,000 for a basic cremation to about $15,000 for a more elaborate” burial.
Plots at Walawaani Way cost $3,850.
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