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under the sea
waters off north Queensland is inspiring a new love for
the embattled Great Barrier Reef.
underwater art museum literally
melds human culture and the
creatures of the GBR, such as the
cuttlefish known as Kevin seen here .
enjoys the evocative art of the
Coral Greenhouse, where culture
meets conservation.
sculpture, Ocean Siren,
radiates colours that change in
response to the surrounding
sea temperature.
lower the MOUA statues to the sea floor.
off the Queensland coast is
the largest living structure in
the world.
That was the question passionate Townsville-based marine scientists Dr Adam Smith and Dr Paul Marshall were struggling with when they attended a talk by a fellow scientist discussing an underwater art installation on a reef in Cancun, Mexico.
It turned out to be a watershed moment.
“Like all good ideas,” Adam says, “the seeds stem from somewhere else. I listened to this scientist talk about what had been done on a reef in Mexico and thought what a perfect fit this concept would be for Townsville.
“We are a reef city, with the GBR on our doorstep, but many people don’t even realise this. We are the hub for scientific reef research and our city has a gathering of great minds studying our oceans and reef at James Cook University. We have the world’s largest living aquarium, on display, but tourists still tend to link Cairns with the GBR, not Townsville. We needed to come up with something that was going to shine a light on the science and culture of our reef here. And it needed to be thought-provoking on a global scale.”
THE IDEA OF underwater art installations located off the north Queensland coast was hatched. And this year, four years later, the Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA) launched its first huge in-situ artwork on John Brewer Reef, 70km off the coast from Townsville.
“You know the saying, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’?” Adam asks. “Well, it has taken a city to get MOUA installed. So many extraordinary people, companies, private businesses and government departments have pulled together to be involved, supplying their time, expertise and funding to make this happen.”
“But of course we are enormously proud and excited about the opening of this first installation. It’s a world-class experience,” says Adam, who is deputy chair of the MOUA board and owner of Reef Ecologic, a Townsville-based company that provides advice, research and training on issues facing coral reefs.
The MOUA team felt it was vital that the project attract a world-renowned artist, to bring it global attention. “So with little or no budget, we contacted the best of the best – UK sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, who has previously been involved in underwater sculptures across the Northern Hemisphere.”
But how to attract him to the project with no money? “So we invited him to stay in our homes,” Adam recalls, explaining that Jason was embraced like a family member by the project team.
“We shared meals, took him diving and found out he is a particularly good squash player.” The strategy worked and Jason agreed to the project. Many meetings and much planning and collaboration followed during the next four years. “There needed to be strong vision for this project and the conversations with Jason were long and ongoing,” Adam says.
covered in coral, and fish will
make them their homes.
project on the other side of the world is evidence of his passion for art and conservation. Born in the UK, he graduated in 1998 from the London Institute of Arts with an honours degree in sculpture.
He’s also a fully qualified diving instructor – trained in Queensland – and a naturalist and talented underwater photographer.
The vision for MOUA is to provide a submerged experience that inspires reef conservation and engages the community in cultural land and sea stories. Jason achieves that with a Coral Greenhouse idea that melds humanity and the reef, both metaphorically and figuratively. Jason’s installation features life-like statues, cast using real people, to give life and breath to the reef itself, connecting art, science, culture and conservation.
I’m lucky enough to be on Yongala Dives’ inaugural dive trip to the site. As the sun rises, we leave Townsville for the two-hour voyage to John Brewer Reef. There is an air of anticipation among those onmboard. Owner and skipper of Yongala Dive, Matt King, is clearly excited to be able to offer visitors to Townsville a new experience. “This is something different from anything else around,” he says. “Our company dives the famous Yongala wreck (see AG 114) every day, so I’m very spoilt. But as far as a dive site goes, this doesn’t have to be the most fantastic fishy site in the world – this site is going to attract people because it’s so different.” In time, the site’s structures will become covered in coral, and fish will make them their homes.
“The concept is to bring more people to the reef and region by raising awareness about the reef,” Matt explains.
“Hopefully, they will also learn things they didn’t know, taking home ways in which they personally can have a positive impact on [the reef ’s] preservation. It’s a
statues encourages larger sea life to
enter and make MOUA their home.
THE LAST GREAT WILDERNESS
Indigenous rangers, scientists, conservationists and pastoralists are working together to ensure the Kimberley remains one of the world’s great wildlife havens.
Ultimate survivor
The short-beaked echidna is found from deserts to mountain peaks; from Tasmania, across the Australian mainland to southern New Guinea. Its unique backwards-pointing feet give it an advantage when digging. Echidnas also use extended claws on the second toes of the hind feet to scratch and groom between the spines.
WALKING WITH FIRE
Linton Burgess performs a traditional dance during patrula, a return of important cultural fire practices to farmland on the midland plains of Tasmania for the first time in 200 years.
Running Man Rock
IT WAS ABOUT SIX YEARS ago that I first discovered him, purely by chance. At an hour and a half out of Sydney, my commercial flight turned north-west towards Darwin. And there he was in all his rampant majesty. Running Man Rock, I call him.
WINTER WONDERLAND
WE WAKE TO A fantasy land. In the pink hues of the early morning, snow gums glisten, frosted in snow; sunlight refracts off crystal-encrusted leaves; and kangaroos puff steamy breaths into the cold air.