The Real Cost Of A Funeral In Melbourne Australia 2025 Update
If you are here, you might be planning ahead, supporting someone through their journey of loss, or helping your family to plan the best end of life. Here we will help you with all of those.
What is the real cost of a funeral in Melbourne Australia in 2025? The real cost of a funeral in Melbourne Australia is expensive and prices are rising fast, single crypts increased from $8,675 in 2013 to $41,080 in 2023 – a 370% price surge. The average burial cost in Melbourne now exceeds $11,000 for basic services – not including the plot or memorial. And also catering and ceremony costs can add another $2,000-$4000. This also does not include the environmental cost of a funeral, which adds another 160kg of CO₂ emissions for cremations and burials contributing to the thousands of tonnes of steel, concrete, and hardwood that Australian cemeteries consume annually. Most families don’t realize what they’re paying for until they’re in the middle of it — often during one of the hardest weeks of their lives. In Melbourne, there is an alternative way to reduce the real cost of funerals and give you net positive carbon impact, that is Living Legacy Trees at Mornington Green Living Legacy Gardens.
Below we will explain everything about the real cost of a funeral in Melbourne Australia 2025 update, including the best alternative available; Living Legacy Trees.
The Real Cost Of A Funeral In Melbourne Australia 2025 Update
How much does funeral cost in Melbourne in 2025? Here’s what most families in Melbourne will pay for a standard funeral service in 2025, with 60 guests, a mid-range coffin, catering, and a basic memorial headstone or plaque; they usually need to pay from $17,200 until $38,000, based on the funeral director services they choose, coffin types, ceremony & chapel, catering numbers, cremation or burial interment, burial plot, and memorial types. This also does not include the environmental cost of a funeral, which adds another 160kg of CO₂ emissions for cremations or contributes to the thousands of tonnes of steel, concrete, and hardwood that Australian cemeteries consume annually. Here is the full breakdown:
| Cost Category | Low Estimate | High Estimate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Funeral Director Services |
$4,500 |
$7,500 |
Includes coordination, transport, paperwork, viewing, etc. |
|
Coffin (Mid-Range) |
$1,500 |
$3,000 |
Timber or decorative veneer |
|
Ceremony & Chapel |
$400 |
$1000 |
Depending on cemetery, church, or private venue |
|
Catering (60 guests @ $35–$60 pp) |
$2,100 |
$3,600 |
Light refreshments to full meal |
|
Cremation Or Burial Interment |
$1,200 (cremation) |
$1,910 (burial) |
Interment fee only — burial also requires plot |
|
Burial Plot (if applicable)
|
$4000 |
$15000 |
Varies by cemetery and location |
|
Memorial (Headstone or Plaque) |
$2000 |
$6000 |
Granite base or bronze plaque |
So the total estimated cost if you choose a cremation with a memorial in Melbourne Australia is from $13,800 to $36,000 and if you choose burial with a memorial headstone is from $17,000 to $36,000.
The Environmental Cost Of A Funeral Can Also Affect The Real Cost Of A Funeral In Melbourne Australia
We often think about these funerals in emotional terms, but beneath the ceremony and funeral process lies another legacy that we rarely think about:
What is the side effects of traditional funerals?
Well, Traditional funerals — both burials and cremations — leave behind a much bigger environmental footprint than most people realise.
Many Australians choose cremation because they think it’s better for the environment, but actually, each cremation releases around 160 kg of CO2 into the air. That’s the same as driving a car 650 kilometres or charging 20,000 smartphones. Traditional burials are even more concerning! Australian cemeteries use enough hardwood every year to frame more than 2,300 homes, enough steel to build 15 Eiffel Towers, and enough concrete to build four Pentagons. The long-term impact is huge!. In cities like Melbourne and Sydney, cemeteries already take up two to three times more land than the entire CBD, and these lands can never be used for anything else. We’re basically burying our country under steel, stone and cement, one grave at a time, while pushing nature further out of our urban spaces and creating a really bad legacy that our future generations will inherit.
How To Reduce The Real Cost Of A Funeral In Melbourne Australia For 2025 And Beyond
How can we reduce the real cost of a funeral in Melbourne Australia? Including carbon and environmental costs? We can reduce cost of funeral by choosing Living Legacy Trees. While Melbourne families face funeral costs ranging from $17,200 to $38,000, Living Legacy Trees at Mornington Green Living Legacy Gardens offer a better alternative starting from just $7,000 – this saves $10,000 to $31,000 while creating something genuinely meaningful. This reduces financial burden for families while also creating a very meaningful way to leave this world. Instead of locking away land forever under concrete and steel, your Living Legacy Tree actively contributes to Melbourne’s green environment, providing habitat for native wildlife, cleaning the air, and creating peaceful spaces where families can gather for generations. The Living Legacy Tree comprehensive package includes everything traditional funerals offer – a meaningful ceremony, professional care, and a lasting memorial – but replaces the environmental cost with environmental benefit!
Living Legacy Trees Create Net Positive Impact for Melbourne's Future
What sets Living Legacy Trees apart is their net positive carbon footprint, directly addressing the environmental costs that traditional funerals impose on our city. While cremation releases 160kg of CO₂ and burials consume vast amounts of concrete and steel, each Living Legacy Tree actively sequesters carbon throughout its lifetime, effectively offsetting the cremation process and continuing to benefit the environment for decades to come. Over 1500 Melbourne families have planted Living Legacy Trees, and they are choosing this option not just to save money – they’re investing in our city’s sustainable future, creating accessible green spaces that serve our community while honouring their loved ones. Rather than contributing to Melbourne’s cemetery that already occupies more land than our CBD, Living Legacy Trees help build the urban forests our city needs. Living Legacy Trees proves that saying goodbye doesn’t have to cost the earth – it can actually help heal it!.
Beware! Untreated Human Ashes Are Harmful For The Soil And Environment
Beware, not many people know this, untreated cremation ashes are toxic to plant life and soil. These ashes have a pH level of 11-12.5, which is the same alkalinity as bleach, and salt levels 200 to 2,000 times higher than what plants can tolerate. This means they create a chemically negative condition for vegetation. Studies by Agpath Labs have shown that 90% of plants die when they’re exposed to untreated ash soil, and the chemical impact of one person’s ashes (3-4kg) is equivalent to the negative effects of over 10,000 cigarette butts. When you scatter ashes in nature or bury them in biodegradable urns, they don’t decompose harmlessly. Instead, they create dead zones where beneficial soil microbes can’t survive. This disrupts the underground networks that are essential for healthy plant growth and can potentially damage ecosystems for years to come.
Over 1500 Families In Melbourne Have Chosen Living Legacy Trees And 75% Of Them Are Pre-Planners
What is the most affordable funeral in Melbourne? It is Living Legacy Trees at Mornington Green Living Legacy Gardens.
You can reduce the real cost of a funeral in Melbourne Australia by pre-planting your family’s Living Legacy Tree, you can create one tree for your whole family, just by $7,000, you can infuse one by one of your family’s ashes throughout the years, creating one positive touchpoint and central peaceful sanctuary for generations to come. By pre-planting, you can lock in with today’s pricing, avoid inflation and financial and emotional burden for your family during last minute funeral arrangements. Out of 1500 families who have planted their Living Legacy Tree in Mornington Green, 75% of them are pre-planners, they found the peace of mind giving their family a certain end of life plan.
What You And Your Family Will Receive With A Living Legacy Tree
If you choose A Living Legacy Tree in Melbourne to reduce the real cost of a funeral, this is what you and your family will receive:
- You can choose from various native and unique trees like red flowering gum, gingko, oak tree, cherry blossom and many more! Learn here
- Each tree is protected IN PERPETUITY in the Mornington Green Living Legacy Gardens located in the serene Mornington Peninsula.
- Ashes of your loved ones are processed carefully with the patented Living Legacy Liquid that turns harmful ashes into tree nutrients like potassium and nitrogen.
- You can have a personalized and intimate ceremony up to 15 people while you turn the ashes of your loved on and plant A Living Legacy Tree
- A personalized memorial bronze plaque
- Year-round access to your Living Legacy Tree
What Happens If You Don't Plan Your Funeral Ahead?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth – if you don’t make these decisions yourself, your family or someone else will have to make them during the worst week of their life. They’ll be grieving, stressed, and trying to guess what you would have wanted while funeral directors present them with price lists they’ve never seen before.
Usually funeral directors offer default options that has;
- Higher costs because there’s no time to learn and explore
- Choices that might not reflect your actual values
- Additional stress on family members when they should be focusing on healing
Ready to explore a meaningful alternative that reduces the cost of the real funeral in Melbourne Australia in 2025 while creating A Lasting Legacy? Contact Mornington Green at (03) 9059 4959 to discuss how Living Legacy Trees can reduce your funeral costs by up to $31,000 while giving back to Melbourne’s environment – our caring team is here to help you understand your options.
