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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
BROWSE BY STATE & NAME
Explore the wreck directory
560 wreck-related recordsRecorded information, not live availability
WreckHobart & Derwent
SS Swiftness (Betsey Island)
Broken 1920 vessel with an unusual ex-mine steam engine, 100 m from the Macquarie.
Details need confirmationWreckTasman Peninsula
SS Tasman
Rarely seen 1883 steamer at 70 m beneath the Hippolyte Needle – a serious technical expedition target.
WreckSydney South & Botany Bay
SS Tekapo wreck (South Maroubra)
Shallow scattered remains of an 89 m passenger steamer lost in fog in 1899; its huge anchor is a monument at North Maroubra.
WreckSydney South & Botany Bay
SS Tuggerah wreck
The most intact engine room of any Sydney wreck, buried in schooling fish, at 45 m off Royal National Park.
WreckSydney South & Botany Bay
SS Undola wreck
Complete, upright 1909 collier with boiler, triple-expansion engine and the famous Shanks toilet, lost with all hands in the 1918…
WreckMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
SS Uralba
The last wooden coal-burner built in Australia and a WWII boom-defence vessel, upright in 18 m off Carrum with foremast, water…
WreckHobart & Derwent
SS William Cowper (Betsey Island)
A long, flattened 1924 hull laid out west-east beside Little Betsey Island.
Details need confirmationWreckYorke Peninsula
SS Willyama Wreck
A 2,705-ton steel collier broken across the reef off Rhino Head, with sternpost and steering quadrant at the surface and boilers,…
WreckSydney South & Botany Bay
SS Woniora wreck
Rare 1863 iron collier with upright engine and boiler at 58–59 m in the Botany Bay approaches; lost with all but one of her crew…
WreckCentral Coast
SS Yambacoomba wreck
Scattered remains of a 1917 wooden steamer lost off The Skillion, dived in combination with Boat Trailer Reef close to Terrigal…
Details need confirmationWreckTownsville & 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…
WreckDarwin Harbour
SS Zealandia
The former Huddart Parker liner and troopship, now the most coral-covered of the 1942 raid wrecks.
WreckNewcastle & Lake Macquarie
SV Berbice wreck (Stockton Beach)
An 1888 British sailing ship, whose crew were saved by breeches buoy, uncovered by the sand in 2018 in 5 m off Stockton Beach.
WreckNewcastle & Lake Macquarie
SV Durisdeer wreck (Stockton Beach)
An 1864 iron barquentine lying on its side in 5 m off Stockton Beach, with its iron masts pointing out to sea.
WreckRottnest Island
Salmon Bay Unidentified Wreck
A lone boiler, shaft and propeller of unknown origin in clear 26 m water off Salmon Bay.
WreckPilbara & Dampier
Samson Wrecks
Trawler and barge wrecks turned into fish-rich artificial reefs.
Details need confirmationWreckDarwin Harbour
Sandbar Barge
A small upright barge near Cullen Bay that punches above its weight for snapper, jewfish and cod.
Details need confirmationShore/Rock PlatformMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
Sandringham Pier Breakwater
Breakwater built partly from old ship hulks, with the J7 submarine wreck 150 m away; sheltered, fishy and good at night.
WreckEsperance & Recherche Archipelago
Sanko Harvest Wreck
Australia's largest wreck dive – a 174 m bulk carrier broken into giant sections in 13-44 m, protected by a 500 m no-take zone.
WreckEast Arnhem Land & Gove
Sanyo Maru
A 1937 Japanese pearling mother-ship in 26 m off Arnhem Land – archaeologically significant and inside a closed 200 ha protected…
ReefCoral Sea
Saumarez Reef
A remote crescent reef with vast coral meadows, turtles and a Second World War Liberty ship wreck.
WreckPerth
Saxon Ranger Wreck
An intact 38 m trawler scuttled as a dive wreck in 18–20 m, with public moorings and cut access holes, only minutes from the…
WreckShipwreck Coast & Warrnambool
Schomberg
Railway girders, iron tanks and cemented fittings of Bully Forbes's 'perfect clipper', lost on her maiden voyage in 1855 – one of…
WreckGold Coast
Scottish Prince Wreck
An 1887 Glasgow barque whose whisky cargo was looted by locals, now wrapped in enormous schools of yellowtail scad in only 11 m.
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 ↗