Whaler Station (Flinders Reef)

Meet the site

Whaler Station is listed by marinelife.org.au as a related site to China Wall on Boomerang Reef, in the Flinders group, together with Cod Wall. No description of its own was found in the sources consulted.

The name is suggestive. 'Whaler' is the Australian name for several requiem sharks of the genus Carcharhinus, including bronze, dusky and bull whalers, and a 'station' may refer to a cleaning station or a spot where the sharks congregate. Alternatively, the name may commemorate nineteenth-century whaling in the Coral Sea; whalers were among the ships lost on Coral Sea reefs, including the Jane and Lion on Wreck Reef in 1856. Neither explanation is confirmed.

Given its association with China Wall, a wall that drops to about 1,000 m with gorgonian fans up to 4.5 m across, black coral trees, sea whips, sharks and pelagic fish, Whaler Station is probably also a wall site. The general fauna of the Flinders area applies: grey reef, whitetip and silvertip sharks, reports of tiger and tawny nurse sharks, yellowfin and dogtooth tuna, trevally and barracuda, with soft corals and fans on the walls and visibility often above 40 m.

This record is provisional and should be expanded when details become available. It is likely dived only occasionally, if at all, on current itineraries. Divers on a Flinders expedition should ask the crew whether it is used and what to expect, and should plan for a deep wall with the usual attention to depth and gas, given how far the site is from any medical help.

What you might see

Expected Flinders wall fauna: sharks (possibly whaler species), tuna, trevally, barracuda, gorgonians, black coral, sea whips, soft corals

Location

A site related to China Wall on Boomerang Reef in the Flinders group, listed by marinelife.org.au; layout and position not published.