A Far North Queensland Aboriginal elder's body was mistakenly buried in another man's grave in a "serious oversight" by a Cairns funeral director.
Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire Council said the man had been buried in the plot prepared for another elder in the Gulf community of Kowanyama.
Mayor Robbie Sands said he believes the funeral home sent the wrong body for the burial six weeks ago.
The mix-up was discovered on Wednesday afternoon.
The man buried at Kowanyama was due to be buried 360 kilometres south, in Normanton, on Saturday.
"It's caused a great deal of heartache for both grieving families," Mr Sands said.
"It's unprecedented for our community.
"Even for the funeral parlour in Cairns, they've been there for as long as I can remember, and even they indicated it's an unprecedented incident."
Distress for family
Mr Sands said he has spoken to the families, who are "hurting and suffering".
"The funeral for the person that we thought was being held in Cairns is supposed to have taken place in Normanton on Saturday, so now they can't bring closure to their family," he said.
"We're going to work with the funeral parlour to direct the correct body over to Normanton, which is buried here in Kowanyama.
"The person that's supposed to be buried in Kowanyama will be repatriated for the family so they can get some closure.
"The family that were grieving and now starting to heal after the first funeral have now discovered that they didn't put their loved one down and they've got to start the whole process again."
In a statement, Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire Council said there will be a "respectful" exhumation of the man mistakenly buried at the Kowanyama Cemetery in the next week.
The second man's body remains in the Cairns funeral home.
