Great Barrier Reef - SS Yongala

Sitting in 100ft (30m) of water about half an hour from Alva Beach near Ayr is the century-old shipwreck, SS Yongala. A passenger steamer en route from Melbourne to Cairns, SS Yongala steamed into a cyclone and sank about 40 nautical miles south of Townsville. All on board perished, their remains still inside the wreck, making the SS Yongala an official gravesite. Since the mid-1990s, divers were banned from penetrating the shipwreck to protect its remains.

When Yongala didn't arrive by the end of March 1911, a search and rescue operation was activated to no avail. Debris was found along the mainland's coast, and the only body discovered was of the racehorse, Moonshine. As the Great War loomed, followed by the Second World War, the wreck of SS Yongala disappeared into obscurity. Sometime in 1943, a minesweeper snagged onto the wreck while checking for mines. Assuming it was just a shoal, no further investigation was undertaken.

Then in 1958, a couple of local skin divers came across the shipwreck and instantly recognised it as the SS Yongala. The ship was listing to starboard, and the bow was pointing north. Most of the wood had already disappeared, leaving only part of the deck and the iron hull but what remained was in remarkably good shape.

As the only underwater structure for miles, the SS Yongala became a haven to marine life, converting the wreck into an artificial reef encasing the hull in colourful soft corals.

Decked in diving gear, I jumped from the back of the boat and pulled myself down one of the mooring lines to the top of the wreck about 52ft (16m) below the surface. Visibility was excellent, and I was ready to explore.

Thousands of glass fish were around the wreck where Dendronephthya, a gorgeous pink soft coral, dominated the ship's topside. Among them were knotted fan corals, giant clams, and fiery-red sea whip. A little further, I watched a battery of barracudas on a mission and moray eels squirming out from their hiding place, searching for their food. Eels are fascinating creatures. Due to poor eyesight, they use their strong sense of smell to find their prey. They ambush them with sharp, piercing teeth that curve backward towards their throat, preventing the prey from escaping. If that wasn't enough, eels have a secondary set of jaws within their throat which lunge forward, grab hold of the prey, and pull it down, swallowing it whole.

Since the wreck is also a cleaning station, many megafauna regularly visit. Some of the more common guests are hawksbill turtles, marble rays, guitarfish, humphead wrasse, giant groupers, sea snakes, and on rare occasions, whale sharks and humpback whales.

The SS Yongala's journey ended tragically, but today it is one of the best dive sites on the Great Barrier Reef. It is so full of marine life that it is difficult to know where to look. Come for a look; what do you see?



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