SS Oakland wreck (Cabbage Tree Island) – protected historic wreck
The SS Oakland, a 47 m single-screw steamship built in 1890, sank on 27 May 1903 off Port Stephens, north of Cabbage Tree Island; seven survived and eleven died. As a wreck over 75 years old it is protected under Australian heritage law, and the site is dived as a look-only wreck. She lies in one piece at about 27 m (stern 3–4 m above the sand, bow high with most of its sides gone) with the triple-expansion engine and molasses tanks visible. Fish include catfish, red morwong, yellowtail and moray eels.
Facts
- Region: New South Wales – Byron Bay to Eden (Australia)
- Area: Port Stephens & Broughton Island
- Depth: 24–27 m
- Level: advanced
- Current: moderate
- Type: wreck
- Coordinates: -32.67813, 152.23334
- Highlights: steam engine, boiler, catfish, porcupinefish, red morwong, yellowtail, squid, moray eel
- Permit: No permit, but the wreck is protected as a historic shipwreck (over 75 years old): do not remove or disturb anything.
- Tips: Wrecks more than 75 years old are automatically protected under Australian heritage law (the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976, now the Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018): look and photograph, never remove or disturb anything. Position is the published mooring (it was about 50 m west of the wreck and in 2006 lay on the stern). Visibility normally about 18 m, sometimes 7 m; water about 21 °C in May and 18 °C in October; a southerly current was met on one dive. Depth makes it an Advanced / deep-diver dive; the author's former Nelson Bay operators no longer run, so ask current Port Stephens operators.