The Daylesford Cemetery Trust has spent the past 10 years preparing the six hectares across the road, which they bought from neighbouring sheep farmer Monty Kirby.

Finally, after a decade negotiating the sale, applying for permits with Hepburn Shire Council and the Department of Human Services and preparing the land for burials, the first two hectares have opened their pearly gates for business.

Trust secretary and former town undertaker Jack Adriaans said those two initial new hectares would last for the next 30 to 40 years, laying to rest about 1800 people, before it filled up.

He said the new space for Daylesford was a huge coup after such a long time working for a result, as the current site edged closer to capacity.

“The trust has been working on it for about 10 years. A number of members who started this process have died in the process and unfortunately didn’t get to see the outcome,” he said.

“The reason we did it now is it extends the life of the present cemetery. If we were to fill this one up, then there would be no choice for future generations.”

The earliest grave at the Daylesford Public Cemetery is from April 1861, and the number of people buried there currently sits at 13,500.

Mr Adriaans said it was of benefit to have the two sites directly across the road from each other, as having disparate locations tended to mean one site inevitably got neglected.

The land purchase, development and preparation has cost the trust $180,000, partly funded by a state government grant of $12,000.

“The rest is community effort and saving. We’ve been saving since 1976,” Mr Adriaans said.

A plot at the Daylesford Public Cemetery is $960, considerably cheaper than the standard lawn graves at Springvale Botanical Cemetery in Melbourne, which start at $2175, or even a lawn grave at Ballaarat Cemetery, which start at $1695.

Mr Adriaans said people could reserve a plot by contacting the trust or their funeral director.