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
69 wreck-related recordsRecorded information, not live availability
WreckHeron Island & Capricorn Group
SS Cooma Wreck (North Reef)
A 1926 passenger steamer's boilers, shaft and triple-expansion engine in 5 m on North Reef.
WreckTownsville & Magnetic Island
SS Gothenburg Wreck (Old Reef)
Boilers, oscillating engines and iron frames of the Gothenburg, lost in 1875 with about 102 lives – one of Australia's worst…
WreckMackay
SS Llewellyn Wreck
An intact, soft-coral-covered 1884 government steamer lost with all 13 aboard in 1919 and found only in 1997 – untouched,…
WreckTownsville & Magnetic Island
SS Moltke Wreck (Geoffrey Bay)
Coral-encrusted 1870 iron barque scuttled as a breakwater, alive with sweetlips, batfish and fusiliers, 100 m from an easy ramp…
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…
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.
WreckLady Elliot Island
Severance Wreck (Lady Elliot Island)
A coral-encrusted 16 m yacht on sand at 21 m, home to sweetlips and grouper, with mantas passing overhead.
WreckBundaberg & Agnes Water
Shannon II Wreck
An 18.6 m fibreglass trawler lost in 2004 near the Barcoola – rarely dived and poorly documented.
Details need confirmationPinnacle/BommieCairns
Shark Mountain (Norman Reef)
A coral mountain range with resident grey reef sharks and a small fishing-boat wreck at 14 m.
WreckMackay
Singapore Wreck (Keswick Island)
Large, coral-covered remains of an 1877 steamer at Singapore Rock in a green zone off Keswick Island.
Pinnacle/BommieBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Smiths Rock
Granite pinnacles with swim-throughs and caverns on the rock that sank the Aarhus, St Paul and Marietta Dal.
WreckBrisbane & Moreton Bay
St Paul Wreck
A 1912 French steamer lost with 18 lives in 1914, with twin boilers, engine and propeller intact at 38-43 m.
WreckHervey Bay & K'gari
Steel Barge S4 (Big Woody Island)
A small steel barge in 12 m north of Big Woody Island – a short, shallow second dive.
Details need confirmationWreckHeron Island & Capricorn Group
Tambaroora Wreck (Polmaise Reef)
Scattered remains of an 1879 steamer in 8 m on a remote reef, home to wobbegongs and nurse sharks.
WreckBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Tangalooma Wrecks
Fifteen rusting dredges and barges scuttled 1963-84, many breaking the surface, with 100+ fish species in 1-12 m – Queensland's…
WreckBundaberg & Agnes Water
The Barge (Cochrane Artificial Reef)
The shallowest wreck on Cochrane Artificial Reef, at about 15 m, covered in sponges and coral – ideal for new divers.
Details need confirmationWreckHervey Bay & K'gari
Three Ships (Roy Rufus Artificial Reef)
Three historic hulls (Otter, Pelican, Lass O'Gowrie) linked by picket lines at 14-17 m – see all three in one dive.
WreckBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Tug Melbourne (Curtin Artificial Reef)
The central tug of Curtin reef and the natural hub for a wreck-to-wreck dive.
Details need confirmationWreckFar Northern Reef & Torres Strait
Volga wreck
Rarely visited iron-ship debris field in the shallows, patrolled by schooling fish.
Details need confirmationReefPort Douglas
Wreck Site (Agincourt Reef 3)
Clear sandy lagoon with 12 m pinnacles and the coral-covered remains of a fishing boat in the shallows.
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…
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 ↗