The following information is derived from the Aboriginal
Burials mini-poster; one of a set of 15 Aboriginal heritage mini-posters produced by Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.
The mini-poster can be downloaded by clicking
the poster thumbnail 
Aboriginal burials are normally found as clusters of human bones eroding
from the ground, or exposed during ground disturbance. Aboriginal customs
for honouring and disposing of the dead varied greatly across Victoria, but
burial was common.
Although Aboriginal burials are quite rare in Victoria, they have been found in almost every kind of landscape, from coastal dunes to mountain valleys. They tend to be near water courses or in dunes surrounding old lake beds. Many burials have been found on highpoints, such as dune ridges, within surrounding flat plains. They are often near or within Aboriginal occupation sites such as oven mounds, shell middens or artifact scatters.
Thirty one traditional burial sites have been found in the region.
Do not disturb the site or remove any material. You should immediately report any discovery of human remains to the police. Also check whether the site has the characteristics of an Aboriginal burial. If it does, record its location and write a brief description of its condition.
Note whether it is under threat of disturbance.
Please help to preserve Aboriginal cultural sites by reporting their presence to Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.
Click to view
larger version Aboriginal people honoured and disposed of their dead in many different ways. The dead were usually buried in the ground, sometimes accompanied by possessions such as stone tools or personal ornaments. In some areas, special clothes were made for the deceased. Small fires were often lit inside or near the grave, and sometimes ochre was sprinkled over the body. In some places, the grave was covered by a special structure such as a small hut or an earth mound, and its location was marked by other earthworks or by cutting bark from surrounding trees.
Other customs included placing the dead person on a wooden platform above the ground, sometimes in a tree, or wrapping the body in bark. After many months, the remains were collected for burial or deposited in a cave or rock crevice.
Aboriginal people were buried in the ground in a variety of positions. Some were placed lying flat on their backs, legs fully extended or lying on their side in a crouched, or ‘foetal’ position. Others were buried in an upright sitting position. The dead were buried either singly or in small numbers. The place of burial was either near the place where they happened to be camping at the time, or in cemeteries to which their relatives and descendants returned over hundreds, or even thousands, of years.
Aboriginal burials have a particular significance for Aboriginal people today and provide important physical and spiritual connections with the land, culture and their past.
The places where the dead are laid to rest have always been important to humans. Burials provide an important link to the ancestral past, for they are physical evidence of a set of spiritual beliefs that lasted many thousands of years. Burials also provide us with valuable information about past Aboriginal ways of life, including diet, health, population, economy and social structures. We can even trace changes in the ways Aboriginal people perceived and related to their environment by looking at the development of large-scale cemeteries.
Although human bone can survive for a long time if buried, it deteriorates rapidly once exposed. Many burials are found on the edges of lakes and rivers, or in sand dunes that once lay near fresh water. Wind and water can readily expose and eventually destroy these sites.
Because many burials are found in loose soil or sand, they are often disturbed by burrowing animals such as rabbits. Human activities such as sand mining, stock grazing, ripping rabbit warrens, ploughing and even trail bike riding can devastate burial sites.
Aboriginal Affairs Victoria records the location, dimensions, and context of Aboriginal burials so that we will have a permanent record of this important part of the heritage of all Australians. Management works, such as the eradication of rabbits, fencing and erosion control, are carried out so that Aboriginal burial locations can be preserved for future generations.
Yes. It is illegal to possess or display Aboriginal skeletal remains without a permit. Anyone who has such remains is advised to contact Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, so that arrangements can be made for their appropriate treatment.
All Aboriginal cultural places and Aboriginal artifacts in Victoria are protected by law. It is illegal to disturb or destroy an Aboriginal place. Artifacts should not be removed from sites.
Please help to preserve Aboriginal cultural places by reporting their presence to Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.
In general, the presence of an Aboriginal burial site on private land will not affect ownership, or stop pre-existing land uses from continuing.
Please preserve Aboriginal cultural heritage sites by conducting environmental, agricultural and other activities in a manner that does not impact on them. Such areas are likely to cover a very small area relative to the size of most properties and avoiding disturbance should therefore have little effect on productivity. The presence of such a place will greatly enhance the value of an appropriately implemented environmental project and is likely to be assist applicants seeking funds for environmental projects.