Projects

The Rottnest Ships Graveyard is located in an area to the southwest of Rottnest Island. Since 1910 this area has been used as a place to sink a range of surplus equipment from boats to aeroplanes. There are 47 known vessels that were purposely sunk in the graveyard when they reached the end of their working life. The most recent scuttling was in 1994 when the former HMAS Derwent was sunk in 200m of water.

The majority of these wrecks are yet to be identified due their depths, which range from 58m to 200m of water. The depth makes accessing these wrecks challenging without specialised equipment and training. Jeremy Green and the WA Museum have previously undertaken historical research and maritime archaeological surveys in the Rottnest Ships Graveyard. The intent of the WreckSploration Team is to provide supplementary data to assist with the large body of work already done to date.

The initial research dives on these wrecks were carried out in 2003-2006 by Craig Campbell, Craig Challen, Craig James, Doug Friday, Karl Hall, Mike Caporn and Peter Balalas. Some of their initial work is still available on the Trimix Divers website

The WreckSploration Team is now undertaking a project with support from the WA Museum to go back to the Rottnest Ships Graveyard, and attempt to survey via photogrammetry select wreck sites that hold significant interest and historical value to the WA Museum and community at large.

Although this will not be the first time some of these wrecks have been dived, if successful, this will be the first time many of these wrecks have been positively identified and surveyed with this new technology, enabling 3D models of the wrecks to be seen by the general public.