This passionate group of citizen science divers recently rediscovered a vessel wrecked in 1928. Photo: GIRT Scientific Divers, Facebook.
Aussies are known for our great love of the ocean, with good reason. The waters that surround our nation are teeming with life, their marine landscapes alluring, even alien at times.
But there’s more to discover beneath the surface than fish and flora.
Hidden in the depths that border our beaches are thousands upon thousands of wrecks. Sunken ships, aircraft, submarines and other artefacts can be found along every coastline, each with its own story to tell.
Canberra local Dr Andrew Viduka has dedicated his entire career to the understanding, documentation, preservation and management of underwater cultural heritage sites around Australia.
Andrew wears many hats, but generally describes himself as a maritime archaeologist and/or archaeological objects conservator.
In 2018, he decided to found a citizen science project called GIRT: Gathering Information via Recreational and Technical Scientific Divers.
Underpinned by a carefully designed framework and scientific methodology, GIRT enables passionate members of the public to participate in conservation-focused underwater cultural heritage activities, without risking damage to sites.
The project’s purpose? To contribute to the ongoing protection and management of Australian underwater history. Recently, the team has proven they are doing just that.
During a field trip to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Andrew and the GIRT team made a fascinating rediscovery.
Divers observed a long-lost vessel just off the eastern coast of Magnetic Island, known at the time simply as Unidentified Arthur Bay Wreck.
“I went up there to teach GIRT’s methodology to staff from Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority,” Andrew says.
“This training was vital to improving monitoring and management of underwater sites throughout the Park. We visited several sites, one being an unidentified wreck in Arthur Bay Wreck, and of course, our interest was piqued.
“With the help of displays in Townsville’s Maritime Museum, we were able to positively identify the wreck as the ‘Octopus’.”
The Octopus was an iron dredger vessel, built in Queensland during the late 1800s. It was decommissioned in 1914 before wrecking in Arthur Bay in 1928.
GIRT’s rediscovery uncovered the history behind the Octopus’ wreck, adding its location to the national Underwater Cultural Heritage Database for the very first time.
The next step was to collect data that would help map the Octopus in its entirety. Hundreds of overlapping images were taken by GIRT divers, informed by physical scaling markers placed on the site.
From these images, an interactive, digital 3D model of the Dredger Octopus was born.
Andrew says the technology used is so accurate, the model is fully scaled down to the last millimetre.
Thanks to GIRT’s efforts, the dredger Octopus is now a known wreck site where people can go and dive recreationally, backed by an understanding of the site’s historic importance.
In late 2024, the United Nations Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission endorsed GIRT Scientific Divers as an Ocean Decade Action initiative.
Decade Actions are projects and undertakings that actively address and contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
“We are the only project of our kind in Australia to be recognised this way,” Andrew says.
“A key phrase of the Ocean Decade is ‘the science we want for the ocean we need’. And for our little portion of the world’s underwater cultural heritage, GIRT is helping contribute to that science.”
GIRT Scientific Divers’ 3D Models, including that of the dredger Octopus, can be viewed directly on Sketchfab.
