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
WreckTasmania North & North-West
Asterope (Hebe Reef)
Remains of an 1883 Aberdeen-built wooden barque among the gullies of Hebe Reef.
Details need confirmationWreckAlbany & Great Southern
Athena Wreck (Ledge Point)
Surprisingly substantial timber remains of an 1869 barque and coal hulk, including stem, breast hook and windlass.
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Auriga
An 1869 iron barque and Harbour Trust hulk, sunk with three gelignite charges in 1930, lying in 57 m 178 m from her fellow barque…
WreckBundaberg & Agnes Water
Barcoola Wreck
A 1994 trawler in 44 m buried in baitfish, with big cod, gropers and bronze whalers – locals rate the fish life above the Yongala.
WreckBundaberg & Agnes Water
Barjon Wreck
A small 1986 fishing-boat wreck that concentrates fish on a bare silt bottom.
Details need confirmationWreckGeraldton & Abrolhos Islands
Batavia Wreck Site (Morning Reef)
Cannons and anchors of the 1629 Batavia – Australia's most notorious shipwreck and mutiny – in 7 m on Morning Reef.
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Batman
A compact, easily navigated 1883 hopper barge and one-time Victorian Navy gunboat with a large upright boiler at the bow – the…
Aircraft WreckDarwin Harbour
Beaufort A9-497
An intact RAAF Beaufort bomber with guns and cockpit instruments in place, found by sonar and kept undisturbed.
Aircraft WreckBundaberg & Agnes Water
Beaufort Bomber A9-322 Wreck
A Second World War RAAF Beaufort crash site lost on Christmas Eve 1943 – scattered remains for aviation-history enthusiasts.
Details need confirmationWreckEsperance & Recherche Archipelago
Belinda & Penguin Wrecks (Middle Island)
An 1824 sealing brig and a steamer's boiler at the Recherche's largest island, home of pink Lake Hillier and pirate Black Jack…
WreckDarwin Harbour
Bellbird
An upturned Cyclone Tracy trawler draped in gorgonians, a few minutes from the CBD and sheltered from the trade winds.
WreckGeraldton & Abrolhos Islands
Ben Ledi & Windsor Wrecks (Pelsaert Group)
Two shallow iron wrecks, one with its boiler above the surface, in the southern Abrolhos.
Details need confirmationWreckNingaloo – Coral Bay
Benan
A large, clean iron barque wreck with anchors and masts on the reef.
Artificial ReefHobart & Derwent
Betsey Island Graveyard – ANM Barges & Floating Bridge Sections
Anemone-covered concrete floating-bridge sections and a fleet of old paper barges in Hobart's ships' graveyard.
Details need confirmationWreckPort Phillip Heads
Beverwijk 19
An upturned Dutch steam dredge with huge dredging cog wheels, boiler and propeller exposed; the last vessel scuttled in the…
ReefEast Gippsland
Beware Reef
An isolated granite reef and marine sanctuary off Cape Conran with kelp forest, sponge gardens, seals, wobbegongs and the remains…
Freshwater Lake/RiverPerth
Blackwall Reach (Swan River)
The deepest shore dive in the lower Swan River, with sunken cars, a barge and breeding cardinalfish below the Blackwall Reach…
WreckKing Island
Blencathra (Currie)
The debris field of a whisky-laden 1875 barque right beside Currie Harbour.
WreckDarwin Harbour
Bluebird
A little-known Cyclone Tracy trawler wreck on DSAC's list - a club site for divers who have done the rest.
Details need confirmationReefCentral Coast
Boat Trailer Reef
The closest boat dive to Terrigal Haven, with an encrusted boat trailer as a landmark and the remains of the 1917 steamer…
Details need confirmationReefEast Arnhem Land & Gove
Bonner Rocks
A pristine rocky coral reef with an old trawler wreck that draws gropers, barracuda, cobia and tuna.
Details need confirmation
WreckDarwin Harbour
Booya
A complete 1917 three-masted schooner lost with five people in Cyclone Tracy and found by chance in 2003.
WreckKing Island
Brahmin (King Island)
An archaeologically rich 1854 wreck with anchors, windlass and scattered china and clay pipes.
WreckKing Island
British Admiral
Site of an 1874 wreck in which 79 of 88 aboard died; a memorial headstone stands on the beach.
Details need confirmationGo 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 ↗