Nanise Tavakayaca Vulagi lived a life that spanned two worlds. Born in Fiji, she spent decades in Sydney, raising five children while keeping strong ties to her ancestral village of Nakini in Fiji near the main island of Viti Levu.
When she died in August 2025 at age 75, her family faced not only grief but a painful question: where should she be laid to rest?
In May that year, she had signed a formal will naming her daughter, Tirisa Lotawa, as executrix and stating a preference for burial in Sydney. Nanise discussed this preference with Tirisa and other family members and Tirisa reserved a plot at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Leppington in Sydney.
According to Fijian family members, Nanise had however – in her final months – expressed the wish to be buried in Nakini, to rest alongside her parents and brother. And Nanise wanted another daughter – Georgia – to be executor so that could occur.
After Nanise’s death, another document surfaced — a handwritten entry in an exercise book titled ‘My Will,’ dated September 2023, partly in Fijian.
That page had been altered days before Nanise died, by Georgia who claimed it had been done to records the deceased’s intention to note Georgia as executor instead of Tirisa.
Soon after her mother’s death, Georgia filed an application in the NSW Supreme Court to allow the deceased’s body to be brought home to Nakini for burial.
The application – which was opposed by her siblings who pointed to the formal will and the reserved plot at Forest Lawn – came before Justice Paul Brereton who delivered his decision in November 2025.
His honour acknowledged Georgia’s sincerity and the cultural weight of her request but dismissed her application.
He ruled that for the purposes of determining the executor of the estate, the May 2025 will was the deceased’s last will and that Tirisa, as executrix, had the right to arrange the burial.
Georgia’s contention that Nanise had in effect amended that Will and appointed a different executor was not accepted.
The judge also considered practical and cultural realities: Fijian custom required blessings from Nanise’s eldest son and brother and permission from the village Chief.
While the Chief initially indicated acceptance when Georgia sought it, he later clarified that approval was dependent on Nanise’s brother seeking permission for Nanise to be buried in Nakini — and Nanise’s brother made it clear that he would not make such a request. That, the judge said, was a decisive barrier.
The court dismissed Georgia’s application. Nanise would be buried in Sydney, in the Pacific section of Forest Lawn Memorial Park, near family and friends.
Vulagi v Kennerally trading as Funeral Services Pty Ltd [2025] NSWSC 1310
