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
49 wreck-related recordsRecorded information, not live availability
WreckDarwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs
Amanda Lee
An 18–20 m trepang vessel lying on her port side with wheelhouse, rails and a large Kort nozzle clearly visible and good coral…
WreckDarwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs
Amelia C
A 25 m prawn trawler cleaned by Darwin Sub Aqua Club volunteers and scuttled in 2013 – upright, open and busy with snapper and…
WreckDarwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs
Antares and Steel Barge
Upright 22 m coastal trader scuttled in 2011 with a steel barge alongside – part of the Antares, Amelia C and Merindah Pearl…
Aircraft WreckDarwin Harbour
Beaufort A9-497
An intact RAAF Beaufort bomber with guns and cockpit instruments in place, found by sonar and kept undisturbed.
WreckDarwin Harbour
Bellbird
An upturned Cyclone Tracy trawler draped in gorgonians, a few minutes from the CBD and sheltered from the trade winds.
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 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.
WreckDarwin Harbour
British Motorist
Engine-room remains of the tanker that was refuelling USS Peary when the 1942 raid began.
WreckDarwin Harbour
Buffalo LVT amphibious vehicle
A virtually intact WWII-type Buffalo amphibious tractor sitting upright on a rocky outcrop.
Details need confirmationArtificial ReefDarwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs
Bus Stop Reef
An improvised early-1990s reef of steel pontoons, truck tyres, concrete bus shelters and a 10 m boat, known for very large cod.
Aircraft WreckDarwin Harbour
C-47 Dakota A65-115
An almost intact RAAF Dakota transport that ditched off Mindil Beach in 1946, reached by a heritage mooring and guide line.
Aircraft WreckDarwin Harbour
Catalina A24-1 (Catalina 1)
The RAAF's first Catalina, crashed on take-off in 1945 and left on a mangrove mud bank where its engines show at low tide.
Aircraft WreckDarwin Harbour
Catalina A24-206 (Catalina 3)
An RAAF Catalina sunk by an accidental depth-charge explosion in 1945 that killed two airmen; nose section intact.
Aircraft WreckDarwin Harbour
Catalina A24-69 (Catalina 2)
The most intact RAAF Catalina in the harbour, with its bow and cockpit section still recognisable in 10-12 m.
WreckDarwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs
Cockatoo and Mudlark Artificial Reef
A pair of 20 m hulls lying side by side on the western edge of Fenton Patches, forming a fish-filled gutter between them.
Details need confirmationWreckDarwin Harbour
DK 06 Ham Luong
A small, upright refugee boat packed with fish, in reach of two other wrecks on the same dive.
WreckDarwin Harbour
DSAC Barge
The club's own upturned barge reef, surrounded by a yacht, work boat and concrete structures, with tame fish.
WreckDarwin Harbour
Darwin Princess
The upturned ferry that disappeared with her skipper during Cyclone Tracy and was found only in 2004.
WreckTiwi Islands
Don Isidro
A 97.8 m Krupp-built Philippine blockade runner bombed and beached burning off the Tiwi Islands on 19 February 1942.
Details need confirmationWreckDarwin Harbour
Ellengowan
Darwin Harbour's oldest known shipwreck - an 1866 Norwegian-built missionary steamer with its boiler standing proud.
WreckTiwi Islands
Florence D
A 1942 blockade-runner sunk in the first Darwin raid, found in 2008 – intact stern on its side in 16 m and a shattered…
WreckDarwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs
Galah and Heron Artificial Reef
Two 20 m vessels scuttled together as fish habitat, next to the Amanda Lee – quieter than the main Fenton wrecks.
Details need confirmationWreckDarwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs
Japanese Submarine I-124
Australia's first protected war grave – a WWII Japanese minelaying submarine in 45 m, closed to divers; viewable through a 2022…
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 ↗