Tamworth Regional Council acts as the cemetery authority for all legislative requirements regarding the sixteen cemeteries across the region. Council is responsible for all reservations, liaisons with funeral directors, interments, record-keeping and ongoing maintenance of the cemeteries. Originally the various churches and groups looked after their own areas including grave diggings, records and maintenance. However, the management and maintenance of many cemeteries, particularly those in rural areas, had become increasingly expensive and difficult to co-ordinate and in the late 1960s, Council took over the control and administration of cemeteries from church trustees. Council is also responsible for all genealogy enquiries. Although the Tamworth Cemetery was dedicated in 1863, it also includes graves that were re-burials from other older sites. Although Council is often able to identify a historical burial in the records, many of the church records are incomplete and all of Council's cemeteries have unmarked graves, which include unrecorded burials of people who were destitute.
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Subject to the provisions of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998, Council may be able to assist you with the location of burial sites of deceased friends and relatives. Council has also provided a number of resources to help you with family and local history enquiries.
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There are sixteen cemeteries across the region, of which ten are still available for burial. The remaining six are closed except for prior reservations. There are lawn portions at the Tamworth and Barraba Cemeteries, which are non-denomination burial places. Several of the region's cemeteries also have Niche or Columbarium Walls for the interment of ashes.
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