Meet the site
HMAS Canberra was an Adelaide-class (US FFG-7 Oliver Hazard Perry design) guided-missile frigate, 138.1 m long, 4,200 tonnes, built by Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle, launched on 1 December 1978 and commissioned on 21 March 1981. She served the Royal Australian Navy for 24 years from Sydney and then Fleet Base West, including Gulf deployments and border protection work, and was decommissioned on 12 November 2005. Handed to the Victorian Government for an artificial reef, she was stripped of her gas turbines, missile launcher, propeller, rudder and part of the mast, cleaned to strict environmental standards and cut with access holes, and at 2 pm on Sunday 4 October 2009 was scuttled in front of thousands of spectators off Ocean Grove. She sits on a sand bottom at 28–32 m heading 210° with a starboard list of about 25°, remarkably intact and level. Depths on the wreck are generous for a ship this size: the bridge roof is 7.7 m, the mid and aft mast bases 7 m, the bow 15 m, the stern and flight deck around 20 m and the sand 28–32 m, so a whole dive can be spent between 10 and 20 m. The bridge, captain's cabin, galley, mess decks, junior sailors' mess with its mural and the operations room are all accessible through the pre-cut openings, and multiple X-marked hull breaches from the scuttling charges open decks 3 and 4 to the light. Penetration was designed to be relatively safe but the ship is enormous and disorienting; local guides reckon twenty dives to know her. Sixteen years of colonisation have turned an alloy-and-steel warship into a reef: the superstructure is furred with sponges, hydroids, jewel anemones and zoanthids, and the wreck holds dense schools of bullseyes, butterfly perch, sweep and old wives, with boarfish, leatherjackets, wrasse, nudibranchs and cuttlefish inside, and seals and dolphins on the surface. The Canberra is the most-dived site in Victoria and the centrepiece of the state's wreck diving. It suits everyone from freshly certified divers on a guided tour of the upper decks to wreck-specialty and technical-penetration divers, and it is the natural first Bass Strait dive before the Graveyard.
Research this site before booking Stored site notes may be historical. These questions highlight gaps without turning old instructions into a current dive plan.
ex-HMAS Canberra is recorded as Artificial Reef in Port Phillip Heads. The listed access is boat (day trip). Confirm the actual meeting point, route and permission to visit; a map pin does not establish any of these.
Topics flagged by the stored research
These are questions prompted by the existing notes, not a verified or complete hazard assessment.
- Other water users
- Ask about vessel activity, exclusion areas and the agreed surface arrangements.
- Lines and obstructions
- Discuss any known entanglement concerns and the suitability of the planned area.
- Planned depth
- Confirm the intended route and training requirements; the recorded maximum is not a target.
- Water movement
- Ask how swell and local exposure affect the proposed entry, exit and route.
- Overhead environments
- Ask whether the plan stays entirely in open water. A wreck or cave listing is not permission or training to enter.
Historical access notes exist for this record, but have not been independently verified for current use. Request current directions from the operator or site manager rather than following an old entry description.
Questions, answered
Is ex-HMAS Canberra suitable for my certification?
The record lists Deep/Advanced + experience. That does not establish suitability for every route or day. Share your training, recent experience and equipment needs with the operator and ask about the specific proposed dive.
Can I book ex-HMAS Canberra through YouDive?
YouDive is an independent research directory. Contact an operator directly to confirm whether it currently runs the trip, the inclusions and the booking terms.
What you might see
Bullseyes, butterfly perch, sweep, old wives, boarfish, leatherjackets, wrasse, nudibranchs, giant cuttlefish, jewel anemones, sponges, hydroids, zoanthids, Australian fur seals, dolphins
Location
Scuttled artificial reef in Bass Strait about 2–3 km off Ocean Grove beach on the Bellarine Peninsula, 4.2 km from the Barwon River mouth and 6.2 km east of Point Lonsdale.
Facilities nearby
Queenscliff Harbour and Portsea Pier departures (parking, toilets, cafes, fills); Barwon Heads ramp for private boats
Before you make plans
Conditions, access and operator schedules can change. This is a location guide, not a dive plan. Ask a local operator about current conditions and suitability for your training and experience.
Sources & further reading
scubadoctor.com.auparks.vic.gov.audiveline.com.audivernet.combaycitycharters.comRecord updated 27 Sept 2026. Source claims are being reviewed.
