About the Australian Historic Shipwreck Act of 1976

A huge part of the development of Australia involves ships, without the ship this country would not have been discovered. The roles of ships lead to the discovery and settlement of this large island country. Many  ships that came to Australia  were wrecked in one way or another. There are many shipwrecks around Australia and there are around 7,000, many of which have not been discovered.

Shipwrecks in Australia are bound by the Historic Shipwreck Act of 1976. A historic wreck is one that is over 75 years. This means it has to be under water for the length of time and not the age of the ship itself. To touch a wreck you need to obtain a permit to enter a wreck zone. Legislation protects against looting and souveniring, illegal sales of artefacts, fishing and anchoring, unauthorised interference, seabed development – marine aggregate extraction, commercial exploitation.

It is your responsibility to report a wreck as you cannot assume that it has been surveyed and not everyone would actually know about it. The ocean floor is always moving as things are covered and uncovered. The group to contact is called AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority), although you are also bound by the Commonwealth Navigation Act of 1912 as well. By finding a shipwreck doesn’t mean you are actually the owner of the wreck or even its cargo. The ship itself and the cargo are still owned by the owners, so it is not finder’s keepers. This does mean by disturbing the wreck and taking anything from the wreck would mean jail time for those who are caught. If in doubt contact the people who are in charge of heritage conservation in your state.

Under the Historic Shipwrecks Act there are inspectors whose job it is to enforce the Act and regulations. Historic Shipwreck inspectors are people who have been trained in shipwrecks and can be any police officer (Commonwealth, Territory and State), any authorised government officer such as fisheries officers that have been appointed by the Federal minister.  They have the powers of arrest, boarding vessels, seizures of relics, diving gear and even the boats. 

The disturbance of a shipwreck makes the wreck degrade faster than what it was before.  Taking objects or parts of the ship reduces the chances the marine archaeologists who visit the wreck of being able to correctly identify it. Parts of the ship and its cargo can actually lead to clues to the identity of the ship. One little bit of metal can tell a person how large and from what era the ship was built.