About the project

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.

The WreckSploration Team is now undertaking a project to to survey via photogrammetry select wreck sites that hold significant interest and historical value to Western Australia

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.