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
106 wreck-related recordsRecorded information, not live availability
WreckMargaret River & Augusta
Katinka Wreck
The bow, bowsprit, windlass and masts of an 805-ton iron barque wrecked in the 1900 storm, in 5-6 m.
WreckPerth
Key Biscayne Oil Rig Wreck
An upturned oil rig in 26–42 m of often clear blue water, known for grey nurse sharks and large fish.
WreckAlbany & Great Southern
Kingfisher Wreck (Princess Royal Harbour)
One of WA's oldest iron wrecks, an 1854 barque partly exposed at low water in Princess Royal Harbour.
WreckRottnest Island
Kiryo Maru I Wreck
Scattered remains of a 1984 Japanese tuna longliner in the white water beside Cathedral Rocks.
WreckRottnest Island
Lady Elizabeth Wreck
Substantial remains of an 1878 composite barque on clean sand in calm, clear water behind Dyer Island, with caves nearby.
WreckAlbany & Great Southern
Lady Lyttleton Wreck (Emu Point Channel)
Buried hull, windlass and whaling trypots of an 1867 barque, 15 m off Emu Point.
WreckEsperance & Recherche Archipelago
Lapwing Wreck (Long Island)
A small, completely intact fishing boat in 32 m, smothered in soft coral and sponges.
Details need confirmationWreckGeographe Bay & Busselton
Lena Wreck
A 55 m toothfish poacher captured by the Navy, now an upright artificial reef at an easy 8-18 m with open holds and engine room.
WreckTurquoise Coast
Lubra Wreck (Jurien Bay)
The engine block and stern of an 1898 coastal steamer on a reef between Jurien Bay's islands.
WreckPerth
Lygnern & Samuel Plimsoll Wrecks
Two historic ships on one site at the harbour mouth: the Swedish steamer Lygnern (1928) with the cut-up clipper Samuel Plimsoll…
WreckAlbany & Great Southern
Mandalay Wreck (Mandalay Beach, Walpole)
An occasionally exposed 1911 Norwegian barque wreck on a wild Walpole beach – a heritage walk, not a dive.
Details need confirmationWreckBroome & Kimberley
Manfred Wreck (Lacepede Islands)
An 1879 guano-era barque visible at low tide.
Details need confirmationWreckGeographe Bay & Busselton
Mary Wreck (Lockeville Jetty)
The mostly buried remains of an 1879 schooner beside the old Lockeville Jetty piles.
Details need confirmationWreckGeraldton & Abrolhos Islands
Mayhill Wreck (Geraldton)
A 100 m spread of iron wreckage from an 1895 loss, 400 m off the Geraldton port entrance.
Details need confirmationWreckRottnest Island
Mira Flores Wreck
Intact stern of an 1886 German barque in a sand hole on Horseshoe Reef, with hull sections scattered through kelp.
WreckRottnest Island
Miwok II Barge
A seldom-visited 1983 crane barge used for SAS demolition training, in clear 11 m water off Bickley Point.
WreckPilbara & Dampier
No. 20 McDermott Barge
A giant cyclone-wrecked derrick barge in shallow water.
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…
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…
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.
WreckPerth
RMS Orizaba Wreck
The boilers, engine and steering gear of a 140 m Orient liner wrecked in 1905, swarming with fish on shallow Five Fathom Bank.
WreckNingaloo – Coral Bay
Rapid
One of WA's oldest wrecks, once carpeted with Spanish silver coins.
WreckRottnest Island
Raven Wreck
A hunt through kelp for the ballast stones and sheathing of an 1891 barque lost under a drunken skipper.
Artificial ReefPerth
Rockingham Wreck Trail
Perth's most-dived shore site: two light aircraft, small scuttled boats and steel structures joined by rope lines in 10–17 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 ↗