AUSTRALIA BELOW THE SURFACE
Every wreck has a story.
Historic ships, former naval vessels and scattered remains. Explore Australia’s wreck-diving places—and learn how to read the story behind the steel.
AI illustration of a fictional wreck. Not a photograph, site plan or equipment demonstration.
HISTORY. HABITAT. EXPLORATION.
Find the wreck.
Understand the dive.
A wreck’s name and depth are only the beginning. Its history, condition, access rules and the route you intend to dive all matter. Use this section to discover places, compare records and ask better questions of local operators.
Our directory includes wreck remains and reef sites associated with wrecks. Inclusion does not mean a site is currently open, regularly visited or suitable for every diver.
10 CHAPTERS • ORIGINAL EXPLANATIONS
Start with the learning guide
Understand the wreck you are looking at
Distinguish a vessel’s history from the kind of dive it offers.
Read depth, access and location correctly
Turn a directory entry into questions that can be verified.
Choose a first wreck for the experience you have
Compare the proposed trip, not a list of famous names.
Know the boundary between outside and inside
Recognise when the environment changes the training question.
Account for conditions and a changing structure
Read current notices before relying on old descriptions.
Connect training and equipment to the intended dive
Ask what a course teaches before choosing equipment or a certification.
Treat wrecks as heritage, not souvenirs
Find the applicable site rules and leave the evidence in place.
Photograph the wreck without changing the dive
Build a visual story from the route you have already agreed.
Build a booking that can survive a change of plan
Resolve practical questions before committing travel time and money.
Turn the dive into a better understanding of the wreck
Record observations that can improve your next visit and the directory.
A FEW STARTING POINTS
Wrecks to research
Explore these records for history, maps and local context. Recorded depths and operator links need confirmation for your actual trip; this is not a ranking or a list of guaranteed departures.
WreckSunshine Coast
Ex-HMAS Brisbane
Queensland's great destroyer wreck – 133 m, upright, funnels 3 m below the surface and 1000+ species – now with a…
Artificial ReefPort Phillip Heads
ex-HMAS Canberra
A 138 m guided-missile frigate scuttled in 2009 and sitting almost upright in 28–32 m with the bridge at 8 m – bridge, galley,…
WreckFleurieu Peninsula & Victor Harbor
Ex-HMAS Hobart
A 133 m guided missile destroyer sitting upright in 30 m with the superstructure from 5 m, and the only prepared naval wreck in…
WreckHervey Bay & K'gari
ex-HMAS Tobruk
Australia's largest military dive wreck – a 127 m landing ship lying on her side, with the shallowest point at 11 m for Open…
WreckGeographe Bay & Busselton
HMAS Swan Wreck
A 113 m warship upright in 31 m with the crow's nest at 8 m and cut-outs for safe penetration - Australia's first purpose-sunk…
WreckTownsville & Magnetic Island
SS Yongala
A 109 m passenger steamer lost with all 122 aboard in the 1911 cyclone, lying almost intact on its side and swarmed by giant…
BROWSE BY STATE & NAME
Explore the wreck directory
560 wreck-related recordsRecorded information, not live availability
WreckPerth
North Mole & North Mole Barge
An upright, partly penetrable hopper barge in 8 m, reached by a pole trail from the North Mole, and the main sheltered shore…
Cave/CavernCoffs Harbour & Solitary Islands
North Solitary Island – Elbow Cave
An easy, current-free swim-through cave surrounded by extraordinarily dense anemone beds and a 1980s trawler wreck, allowing…
WreckYorke Peninsula
Notre Dame d'Arvor Wreck
Burnt remains of a French grain barque that ran aground in 1920 – a shallow, poignant snorkel on the Wardang trail.
WreckDarwin Harbour
NR Diemen
Upright, intact Cyclone Tracy trawler in 12 m with some of the harbour's best fish life - Darwin's best beginner wreck.
WreckEden & Green Cape
Olive Cam
Boiler, engine and anchor of a WWII minesweeper-turned-trawler in shallow gullies south of Eden.
WreckPerth
Omeo Wreck & Coogee Maritime Trail
A 1858 iron steamer lying 25 m off the beach in 3 m of water, with a 200 m trail of reef modules and sculptures running seaward…
WreckKangaroo Island
Osmanli Wreck (D'Estrees Bay)
Large iron sections of an 1853 steamer on a shallow reef – an early steamship wreck whose 83 people all survived.
Details need confirmationWreckHobart & Derwent
Otago Hulk (Otago Bay)
Remains of the only ship Joseph Conrad ever commanded, visible in the shallows of the Derwent.
WreckMargaret River & Augusta
Peak Island & Toba Wreck
A 1907 Aru Islands-built pearling ketch against the reef at Peak Island, with overhangs and hard corals around it.
ReefBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Peel Island – Horseshoe Bay
Shallow fringing reefs and the beached 1883 bucket dredge Platypus at a historic island anchorage.
Aircraft WreckNorfolk Island
Pel-Air Westwind wreck
Largely intact Westwind medevac jet at 48 m from the 2009 night ditching in which all six aboard survived.
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Petriana
The tanker whose 1903 wreck caused Australia's first major oil spill – a relatively intact bow in 3 m and scattered iron to 6 m…
WreckCocos (Keeling) Islands
Phaeton Wreck
An 1868 composite barque burnt and run aground in 1889, its iron-framed bow and midships still upright in 4 m – snorkel through…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Pioneer
A 1905 Clyde-built pump dredge that is one of the most complete large wrecks off Victoria – both propellers in place and…
WreckTownsville & Magnetic Island
Platypus Dredge Wreck (Arthur Bay)
Coral-encrusted steam boilers of an early Townsville harbour dredge in a quiet rocky cove, swarmed by angelfish and sergeant…
Shore/Rock PlatformSurf Coast & Great Ocean Road
Point Danger Marine Sanctuary (Torquay)
Torquay's local sanctuary reef with kelp gutters, crayfish and seadragons within a short swim of a car park; doubles as the site…
Artificial ReefPort Phillip Heads
Popes Eye Anchor Farm
Thirteen historic ships' anchors – Admiralty, Trotman and Rogers Patent patterns recovered during channel deepening – laid out on…
Shore/Rock PlatformShipwreck Coast & Warrnambool
Port Campbell Bay
The Shipwreck Coast's only reliably sheltered shore dive – a kelp-covered reef wall from the town beach to the bay mouth, with…
WreckKangaroo Island
Portland Maru Wreck
Boilers, engine and propeller shaft of a 117 m Japanese steamer in 15 m – Kangaroo Island's biggest wreck.
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Portsea Hole Wreck
A 13 m fishing boat scuttled in the early 1980s at 26 m beside Portsea Hole, now a sponge-covered fish shelter and the natural…
WreckNewcastle & Lake Macquarie
PS Commodore wreck
A scuttled 1878 paddlewheel tug with the remains of a paddlewheel still recognisable in 36 m.
WreckPort Phillip Heads
PS Hygeia
Intact paddle wheels of the fastest bay excursion steamer of the 1890s, standing in 60 m in the shipping channel – very rarely…
WreckCentral Coast
PS Maitland wreck (Maitland Bay)
The boilers of the 1898 'Maitland Storm' paddle steamer on the rock platform of a beautiful, protected national park bay.
WreckMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
PS Ozone
The 1886 'Greyhound of Port Phillip' scuttled as a breakwater – paddle wheel above water, boilers and steering gear in 3 m, with…
Go deeper into the history
Use heritage records to investigate a vessel’s identity and story, then check site managers and operators separately for present-day access.
DCCEEW — Underwater cultural heritage
Australian underwater heritage framework and research resources.
Open primary source ↗WA Museum — Maritime Archaeology Databases
Researching ship identities, archaeological records and artefacts.
Open primary source ↗DCCEEW — Underwater heritage protected zones
Site-specific protected zones and activities requiring permission.
Open primary source ↗