Industry experts and
supporters comments
Hon Steven Ciobo MP
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment
Federal Member for Moncrieff
"I've written to the Queensland Premier urging her to take up this opportunity for the Gold Coast.
A major dive attraction like this would be great for tourism and drive local jobs.
The creation of a unique dive site on the Gold Coast would be a huge win for our local tourism operators and the city's economy as a whole. 70 per cent of our international visitors enjoy aquatic and coastal experiences while they are in Australia, so an additional attraction on the Gold Coast would only strengthen our appeal in both the domestic and international tourism markets."
Cr TOM TATE – Gold Coast Mayor
Reprinted Gold Coast Bulletin (interview by Andrew Potts) 10-08-16
"This dive project has been on the Councils agenda for more than 8 years. Dive industry figures say the attraction could bring up to $12 million annually into the local economy. We have already identified a location for Tobruk and it would be wonderful to have.
It will mean we will have to contribute funding, which we will do, but this would help diversify our tourism. I am very keen on this and the Gold Coast will absolutely go for it".
As quoted by Cr Tom Tate - Mayor Photograph by Richard Gosling (GCB)
TERRY CUMMINS OAM – Former CEO of PADI Australia,
Vice President of PADI Worldwide, RAID Director of Marketing and Business
Terry has been involved in educating and developing the Australian diving community since the 1970s. He has held several senior positions on dive industry committees. This has given him the opportunity to visit many of the premier dive sites of the world and allowed him to contribute to the development of new diving destinations and associated attractions to boost diving related activities and tourism.
Terry has participated in the preparation and scuttling of dive wrecks around the world and is confident that the sinking of the Tobruk will provide a significant boost to the Gold Coast by providing a world class diving attraction which will fascinate and attract both domestic and international divers to the site. He has witnessed first-hand the associated flow-on and direct benefits to the tourism industry generally and indirect benefits to local business entities offering other products and services to visiting divers from such a dive wreck site.
SALLY GREGORY – Dive travel specialist, Dive Instructor, Master of Business, Master of International Tourism, Ph.D. student and Mistress of Funderwater.
Sally did her first dive on the Gold Coast in 1978 when she learned to dive with the Gold Coast Underwater Club. Since then, she has run a dive shop, been state sales manager for Mares International and has led over 30 specialised international dive tours to the wreck and reef meccas of Chuuk Lagoon, Palau, Timor-Leste, Borneo, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Philippines, Sulawesi, Niue, Tonga and Tahiti. Sally is an active promoter of scuba diving tourism and the health benefits of scuba diving for women of all ages. She is dedicated to empowering divers to protect our fragile marine environment and super keen to support the development of a safe and accessible diving attraction, to boost tourism and to grow the businesses of the diverse range of service providers in the broader Gold Coast community.
JOHN WAYNE – Ex GCCC Councillor, MBA Marketing - Communication Consultant - Diver
Since learning to dive in 1975 John has enjoyed and explored diving across the Asia Pacific region. As a marketing and design professional he has lent his skills to this website and whenever possible to help deliver an Ex-Navy Wreck to the Gold Coast. As a City Councillor (2008-12) John was instrumental in driving the formation of a 'Dive Industry Task Force' and forming the 'Friends of Gold Coast Artificial Reef' 2010. Working with local dive tourism operators and lobbying the City Administration to fund an in-depth (pun intended) study into the potential benefits of hosting the next available Navy Ship to be scuttled on the Gold Coast. The studies recognised the enormous potential benefits this would bring to local tourism in general, and was a key impetus for the progression and installation of the Seaway Diver Access Stairs on The Spit, as a first step in recognising and supporting the local dive tourism sector. Bring on the HMAS Tobruk!
IAN BANKS – Proprietor - Diving the Gold Coast
PADI Dive Master, Ian has dived the world both commercially and for pleasure. He now operates a dive centre and training facility on the Gold Coast. He is a keen supporter of seeing the HMAS Tobruk settle on the bottom, off the Gold Coast. Ian has been instrumental over the last decade, photographing and documenting local marine species and has on documented well over 400 different species living in the Gold Coast Seaway alone. Ian is confident, having frequently dived the proposed ‘resting place’ selected for the HMAS Tobruk, that she will age beautifully and over time become an amazing marine habitat and will provide an excellent artificial reef, drawing interest and enthusiast from around the world.
ALAN DAVIE – Town Planner, Environmental Engineer, Project Manager.
Alan is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and has been involved in the sighting, planning, approvals and development of many tourist and urban infrastructure projects around the world. He was instrumental in the establishment of the HMAS Brisbane as one of the premier dive sites in Australia and managed the process and team that acquired, prepared and scuttled the old war ship on behalf of the Queensland Government. Alan says that the best site for scuttling a dive ship, lies within 3 nautical miles of the Queensland coast and at a depth of between 25 and 30 metres of water. That way, both experienced and novice divers and snorkelers can access parts of the ship. "There's really no better place than the southern coast of Queensland for this next Navy ship and with the volume of tourists around the Gold Coast, support infrastructure and dive operators, why should it go anywhere else"?
MATTHIAS DORSCH – Director of Mares/SSI Asia Pacific – Diver and adventurer.
My role with the world’s largest manufacturer of diving and water sports has taken me to the best dive locations in the world. I am always pleased to hear of ventures that will help boost interest and revenue streams for the Diving / Tourism industry. The sinking of the HMAS Tobruk will not only create an excellent dive destination but also an artificial reef which will attract and increase our marine life populations. As you are aware an important consideration for a venture of this magnitude would be to ensure that its location is easily accessible to potential visitors and has the infrastructure to support these visitors and local divers. The S.E. Queensland Dive Industry is the 3rd largest in Australia with 16 Dive Centres within a 1.5 hour radius and is well positioned to service this attraction. The travel distance and available dive facilities to service divers in Hervey Bay (1 part time facility) and Bundaberg (1 facility) would be a potential barrier to attracting both domestic and overseas divers. Additionally the long cruising time to reach the offshore location would be a turn off for those who experience sea sickness in open waters. Diving scuttled ships is incredibly popular in the USA market and I am convinced that we will have the same interest here on the Gold Coast. This will help grow our local economy, create more jobs and revitalise the diving industry as it has done in Mooloolaba, Canberra, Central Coast NSW and Perth. Another consideration would be the Chinese market, our largest area of diving growth. Visiting the Gold Coast is a highly regarded destination for these travellers. Adding the HMAS Tobruk to the diving opportunities in this area has great potential with this demographic. I am confident that the Gold Coast is the obvious and most suitable resting place for HMAS Tobruk.
JOANNE EDNEY – Dive Instructor, "Wreckspert"
Environmental Scientist, BAppSc (Natural Resources), MAppSc and PhD candidate
Jo is an avid wreck diver, who has dived many of the wrecks throughout the Asia-Pacific Region. She is so passionate about wreck diving that her MAppSc and PhD research are about wreck diving. Jo’s research has included divers’ preferences and opinions about purposively sunk ships in Australia.
Sinking the Tobruk on the Gold Coast will create more diverse diving opportunities and a unique opportunity for divers to be able to see reef colonisation processes at work. It will also be an excellent site for wreck and other diver training.
Bec Krojs - Charter Operator - Dive Tourism Gold Coast
Bec has worked in Gold Coast tourism as a fishing charter operator for 16 years and grew up fishing on the Gold Coast for 14 years prior to that. Bec says, as well as the economic benefit, the Gold Coast fishery is unquestionably in need of a marine reserve to assist in marine life replenishment. A wreck
would provide sanctuary for breeding and could easily be deemed a marine park right from the beginning with little to no negative effect on current fisherpersons/businesses. A marine park on the Gold Coast would not only benefit local marine life, but also play a major part in 'restocking' all Gold Coast reefs by providing sanctuary for seasonal species that come in to shallower waters to spawn (eg, snapper, kingfish) or migrate with temperatures/currents to spawn (eg, mackerel, tuna, billfish). Currently,
there are no closed seasons or marine parks on the Gold Coast. With the safe access that the Seaway provides, spawning/migrating fish are an easy target for even a novice fisher-person. The decline in fish stocks on the Gold Coast is blatantly obvious and something needs to be done to improve it or we will face a very bleak future in Gold Coast fishing and tourism. The sinking of the HMAS Tobruk and deeming it a marine park would show our GC community and other communities around Australia and the world that we are proactive in promoting eco-tourism and protecting our oceans, while maintaining popular tourist attractions like fishing.
SHONA & PETER LOWE - Proprietors Devocean Dive
Established in 2000 Devocean has grown into the largest PADI Instructor Development Centre in SEQ. We dive locally at the Gold Coast Seaway, pretty much every day of the year, and certifies close to 1000 divers each year. While South East QLD diving is spectacular and offers amazing diversity, divers love to travel, and we do plenty of that. Enjoying some the best dive destinations on the planet, offering guided overseas dive trips at least five times a year. Based on our experience we feel very secure in supporting the sinking of the Tobruk on the Gold Coast, it will prove to be a major draw card. Not only would it attract divers and snorkelers from around the globe, but also their families. We have the infrastructure to support this major drawcard now, no other destination vying for the Tobruk can boast the expected diver numbers would increase all the way up the QLD coast with people wanting to include the ex-HMAS Brisbane and the world class Yongala shipwrecks in their itinerary, staying for longer and spending more in our state, supporting local business and employing local people.
GARY MARTIN – Restaurant and Hospitality Consultant – Diver
Gary has a long and distinguished career in Hospitality Management and Catering in Qld.
Taking up the sport hobby of Scuba Diving in the mid '70's Gary has travelled the world diving exotic locations and several well established wreck sites. Most memorable the SS Coolidge in Vanuatu, and over a dozen different war ships in Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon, Caroline Islands, Micronesia. Locally he has frequented the HMAS Brisbane and other wrecks around the South East Queensland Region. Gary has been a long time supporter of local diving and was one of the key drivers into the replenishment drives of the Deep Hole Artificial Reef in the Broadwater before the opening of the new Seaway when the area was coverered by sand with the formation of Wave Break Island. Gary is looking forward to promoting and enjoying the HMAS Tobruk from day one of it's arrival on the sea floor - off Surfers Paradise.
PAUL MATLOCK - Proprietor - Kirra Dive "On the Tweed"
Kirra Dive has been producing nearly 500 new divers each year since 1988, apparently this is quite an achievement especially for an area which offers very little to dive on in the first place. Having a significant dive site will finally allow us to offer the scuba diving in which all our students have been leaving our shores to find.
The community of divers we currently serve only numbers a few thousand nowadays, but I’m confident that bringing a NAVY wreck such as the HMAS Tobruk to our shores will reignite their passions and draw outer-state divers to our amazing underwater world.
AMBROZIO QUEIROZ NETO – Lecturer in Tourism and Management - Griffith University,
PADI Assistant Instructor, Dive Destination Attractiveness Researcher, PhD Candidate,
MSc (Technology), PostGradDip (Marketing), BSc (Tourism).
Ambrozio has dived in three different continents: Asia, Oceania and America. In his Ph.D candidature, he is researching the destination attributes scuba divers value in a successful scuba diving destination. His research aims to understand how destinations compete through the eyes of scuba divers.
“Divers are the high-end kind of tourists: high incomes, high education level and more conscious about environmental conservation. Hosting scuba diving tourism is definitely a remarkable deal: good for the economy, society and environment. Undoubtebly, the sinking of the Tobruk on the Gold Coast will be beneficial for the whole city”.
MARK SALTER – Proprietor Queensland Scuba Diving Company, Gold Coast Tourist Attraction Promoter and Booking Agent.
Mark (Sharkey) has been promoting diving on the Gold Coast since 1991. His tourist attraction booking office in Surfers Centro advises thousands of tourists each year on where to go to have fun on the Gold Coast. His diving school at Marina Mirage attracts over 4,000 tourists annually on snorkel and diving trips to Wavebreak Island and reaches internationally into the Asian and European markets.
The sinking of the Tobruk at the Gold Coast will mean I’m able to employ more staff such as extra charter boat skippers, dive instructors, administration staff, dive masters and sales staff. Mark states ‘I am particularly excited about the Tobruk as its design and diveable spaces are very different to the other Australian ex Navy ships (all Collins Class Destroyers) which have been sunk to create new attractions. This would put the Tobruk and the Gold Coast on top of the MUST DIVE list’.
TREVOR SMITH – Proprietor – Dive2go – PADI Course Director, TEC & Wreck Instructor Trainer, Master of Sports Management, BBus (Marketing), and Dive Industry Consultant.
Trevor has over 25 years of experience in the Australian Dive Community since the beginning of the 1990s. He has been involved in the previous establishment of the ex-HMAS Hobart in South Australia, a stakeholder, a charter operator and involved in the Government promotional & marketing team of a similar project in the past. Having travelled throughout the world diving both historical and artificial wrecks, leading many divers to experience the thrill of exploring shipwrecks. Trevor currently trains Dive Instructors in SEQ while regularly diving the local dive sites.
The Gold Coast is described as “an outstanding global city - looking towards the future.” The anticipated benefits of establishing ‘The Tobruk’ as a Dive Attraction for the Gold Coast are well beyond just another dive site. The sinking of the ex-HMAS Tobruk on the Gold Coast will offer Economic, Tourism, Environmental and Community benefits which provide both direct and indirect employment opportunities for the associated existing industries. From the students at local universities utilising the site for marine & tourism research/monitoring, to the local boat building firms supplying & maintaining charters, to the motels & hotels supplying accommodation & meals for the visiting intra, interstate and international divers, to the local dive operators strengthening their existing services and enabling them to grow their businesses and employ more staff, sinking the Tobruk on the Gold Coast makes good economic sense. The Gold Coast is ideally experienced and positioned to facilitate the establishment of the purposed sunk Artificial Reef.
‘The Tobruk’ will offer the perfect environment for all levels of diver training. From the beginner through to the experienced Tec diver looking to explore even further. The open decks will attract marine life, while the internals will provide the opportunities for divers to dream of the sailors and soldiers who had walked the decks while the ‘The Tobruk’ served Australians. It will be an honour to return to an area once visited.
HAYATO SUWADA - Proprietor - Surfers Paradise Divers
Surfers Paradise Divers has been servicing the Japanese diving market here on the Gold Coast, since 1995. During that time they have been the preferred destination for training Dive Masters and Instructors from Japan, wishing to learn about the diving industry in Australia. As a PADI course Director, Hyato has close connections in the Asian diving industry. He notes that the three fastest growing diving industries are in Japan, Korea and China and that Queensland is high on their lists of must-see diving destinations. The scuttling of the HMAS Tobruk at the Gold Coast will provide a strong attraction for these divers who currently travel to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea for their wreck diving vacations. The close location to international airports will ensure that visiting Asian divers can also bring their dive gear and fit a dive on the ex HMAS Tobruk into their tight holiday schedule, whilst still being able to enjoy the many other attractions the Gold Coast has to offer with their families and friends.
DAVE WYATT – Ex Navy Clearance Diver – HMAS Tobruk – Proprietor - Gold Coast Divers
A 36-year-old former navy clearance diver, Dave served on Tobruk for two and a half years. His tasks as a ships diver included searching beneath the ships hull for explosive devices, taking readings of the ships propeller shafts to ensure they are ok, install grates over the ships water intakes to prevent rubbish entering and disrupting the ships water supply and swimmer of the watch for the event of a man overboard.
Dave now owns and operates a dive centre and is backing the initiative to sink the ship off Surfers Paradise. He sees that unlike many other warships, the Tobruk is the only amphibious ship of her class, she is easily accessible for divers of all levels and offers plenty of large open internal space to explore. Divers, friends and their families from will enjoy Tobruk and the Gold Coast from across the globe.