Meet the site
The Betsey Island graveyard, west of Little Betsey Island at the mouth of the Derwent, is Hobart's ships' graveyard: from the 1930s to the 1980s obsolete vessels, barges and sections of the old floating bridge were towed here and scuttled in about 20-34 m. The Marine Life Network guide calls it a huge concentration of wreck dives very close to Hobart, with a pebble-and-mud bottom that stirs up easily, poor visibility after bad weather or decaying Storm Bay swell, and massive yellow and white jewel anemones and, at times, hordes of school fish on the wrecks. The Leura is the oldest vessel in the graveyard: built in Liverpool in 1878, she was scuttled here in 1934. The guide gives her as 1,186 tons and 250 ft (76 m) long. She lies about 500 m south-west of Little Betsey Island in about 20 m, and after nearly a century on the bottom she is heavily broken up. Her two boilers show on a sounder and are the key landmark; the guide notes she is difficult to locate but has 'by far the best fish life' of the graveyard wrecks. The boilers and remaining frames provide vertical relief in an otherwise flat area, which concentrates fish: schools of small fish, leatherjackets and wrasse gather around the structure, and larger fish such as trumpeter may be present. Jewel anemones and sponges cover the steel. Because she is broken up, the Leura is best dived as a slow exploration around the boilers, looking at the invertebrate growth and the fish. At more than 75 years since her loss, the wreck is protected as historic heritage; nothing may be removed. The Leura's age makes her a link to the late nineteenth-century coastal steamers that served Tasmania and the mainland. The same low-visibility caveats apply as for the rest of the graveyard.
What you might see
Schooling fish (the best in the graveyard), leatherjackets, wrasse, trumpeter, jewel anemones, sponges
Location
Heavily broken remains of the 1878 Liverpool-built steamer Leura, scuttled in 1934, about 500 m south-west of Little Betsey Island in about 20 m, with two boilers standing proud.
Facilities nearby
South Arm and Lauderdale boat ramps; fills in Hobart.
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
marinelife.org.auRecord updated 26 Sept 2026. Source claims are being reviewed.