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
WreckPort Phillip Heads
George Roper
An 83 m four-masted iron barque wrecked on her maiden voyage in 1883 – keelsons, bow winches and slate cargo in 4–6 m on the…
WreckMargaret River & Augusta
Georgette Wreck (Redgate Beach)
Site of the 1876 Georgette wreck and Grace Bussell's famous rescue, with a shallow inshore reef for calm-day snorkels.
WreckPort Phillip Heads
Glaneuse
The buried remains of a French barque wrecked in 1886, exposed in the surf line off Point Lonsdale only after storms – a…
ReefTasmania East Coast
Gleaner Reef (Schouten Island)
A shallow weed reef under the granite mountains of Schouten Island, named after a wrecked fishing boat.
Details need confirmationWreckAdelaide Metro
Glenelg Barge
Adelaide's first purpose-sunk wreck, a 1911 hopper barge in 20 m that can be combined with the Dredge on a single dive via a…
WreckAdelaide Metro
Glenelg Dredge (SS South Australian)
A near-intact 1911 Dutch-built dredge sitting upright in 20 m and packed with fish – Adelaide's most dived boat wreck, easily…
WreckHervey Bay & K'gari
Goori Wreck (Roy Rufus Artificial Reef)
A single, well-encrusted hull at 16 m – a quieter alternative to the 3 Ships cluster.
Details need confirmationIslandFlinders Island & Furneaux Group
Goose Island (Furneaux)
Three contrasting sides around a lighthouse island, plus the remains of the Merilyn.
Details need confirmationWreckBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Grace Darling Wreck
An 1876 wooden schooner lost in 1894 with a cargo of coal and dynamite – ballast mound, galley oven and timbers in 10 m.
Details need confirmationWreckKalbarri & Shark Bay
Gudrun Wreck (Cape Peron)
A rarely dived 1901 wreck in a Shark Bay sanctuary zone, rich with groper and lionfish.
IslandEsperance & Recherche Archipelago
Gunton Island
Jagged ridges, bommies and undercuts with schooling samson fish and an unidentified wooden boat wreck.
Details need confirmationWreckPort Phillip Heads
H.C. Piggot
A 1912 Paisley-built hopper barge broken in two – the forward half standing proud with anchor, hatch coaming and open deck beams…
WreckAdelaide Metro
HA Lumb Wreck
A 1943 US Navy tug scuttled in 1994 with cut deck holes for easy penetration, lying beside the Seawolf and the Noarlunga Tyre…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
HMAS Bayonet
An Attack-class patrol boat scuttled in 1999 and found in 2001 – upright and clean in 82 m off Cape Schanck with waterline marks…
WreckSydney Northern Beaches
HMAS Doomba / Meggol wreck
A WWI Royal Navy minesweeper that became a Brisbane ferry, an RAN warship and a Sydney oil barge, lying beside the Dee Why ferry…
WreckPort Phillip Heads
HMAS Goorangai
Scattered remains of the auxiliary minesweeper cut in two by MV Duntroon in November 1940 with the loss of all 24 crew – the…
WreckAlbany & Great Southern
HMAS Perth Wreck
A 133 m Vietnam-veteran destroyer sitting upright in 35 m with its bridge, gun mount and engine room intact, plus an interpretive…
WreckPilbara & Dampier
HMAS Plym (Montebello Islands)
Site of Britain's first atomic test, 1952.
Details need confirmationWreckGeographe 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…
WreckFar Northern Reef & Torres Strait
HMAS Warrnambool wreck
Intact 1947 WWII corvette on its port side in 25 m – the only RAN ship lost to a mine.
WreckHeron Island & Capricorn Group
HMCS Protector Wreck (Heron Island)
An 1884 colonial gunboat with Boxer Rebellion and WWI service, now a harbour breakwater and fish haven snorkelled at high tide.
WreckFar Northern Reef & Torres Strait
HMS Pandora wreck
The 1791 wreck of the Bounty-hunting frigate HMS Pandora – a permit-only historic shipwreck at 30–33 m.
WreckNorfolk Island
HMS Sirius wreck site
The remains of the First Fleet flagship, lost off Slaughter Bay in 1790 – Australia's most significant colonial shipwreck.
WreckMelbourne & Port Phillip Bay
HMVS Cerberus
The world's first breastwork monitor and only survivor of the type, scuttled as a breakwater in 1926 – now collapsed, protected…
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 ↗