TRADEABOAT.COM.AU | 57FEATURE | HMAS DIVE SITESSeveral were deployed numerous times on
peacekeeping missions and humanitarian relief
operations for our near-Pacific neighbours in the
wake of natural disasters.
After such gallant and meritorious service to
Queen and country, it may seem an ignominious and
melancholy demise to strip these once-proud ladies
of their military “finery”, pack them with explosives
and do what no enemy or force of nature could –
send them to the ocean floor.
But, there, they continue to serve in the
enhancement of our marine environment and the
provision of spectacular venues for scuba diving, one
of our most popular offshore recreational pursuits.
In many ways, this is perhaps a better, more
dignified end than the alternative – being cut up and
sold piecemeal as scrap or used for target practice
until pulverised beyond recognition and towed to a
watery grave.
NEW LIFE BELOW
If the statistics are anything to judge by, these wrecks
are proving a very lucrative attraction for local
communities and the charter operators who ply them.
A 2009 study of the ex-HMAS Brisbane site,
near Mooloolaba (QLD), estimated that the wreck
had contributed $18 million to the Sunshine Coast
economy.
By May 2014, almost 11,000 dive permits had
been issued for the ex-HMAS Adelaide site (off
Terrigal, NSW ), with local tour operators estimating
a four-fold increase in diver tourism in the three years
since the vessel was scuttled.
Artificial reefs are not a modern invention.
Ancient Persians used them to block the mouth of
the Tigris River to thwart Indian pirates.
During the First Punic War (264-241 BC), the
Romans built a reef to trap the Carthaginian fleet
in its Sicilian harbour. Artificial reefs to promote