An Underwater Museum Just Opened in the Great Barrier Reef

A just-opened underwater museum of art in the Great Barrier Reef marine park aims to raise awareness about the threatened ecosystem and rehabilitation of the reef. The sculptures are placed across the reef, with off-shore installations at Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island. Jason deCaires Taylor, whose underwater sculptures are strewn across the Canary Islands, Maldives and Indonesia, is the man behind these ones too. &ldquoOur oceans are going through rapid change, and there are huge threats, from rising sea temperatures to acidification, and a large amount of pollution entering the system. Part of creating an underwater museum is about changing our value systems&mdashthinking about the sea floor as something sacred, something that we should be protecting and not taking for granted,&rdquo said deCaries Taylor. 

Created under the aegis of The Museum of Underwater Art&mdasha not-for-profit collaboration funded by the Australian and Queensland governments&mdashthe first statue came up along the Strand in Townsville. Ocean Siren is a 16-foot-tall sculpture created by deCaires Taylor in collaboration with Townsville&rsquos James Cook University and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. A member of the local Wulgurukaba people&mdash12-year-old Takoda Johnson&mdashwas the model for the statue. Siren is a solar-powered sculpture which changes colour according to the ocean&rsquos temperature using data collected by the Davies Reef weather station. The temperatures are recorded from the sensors affixed throughout the Barrier Reef and the constant change in the colour acts as a visual sign and warning of rising sea temperatures.

&ldquoI was keen to show what&rsquos happening out on the reef in an urban environment, so it connects the community to the reef,&rdquo said Taylor.

This is first of four projects which make up the Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA). Around two hours away from Townsville, Coral Greenhouse is another installation which lies at the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. Situated on John Brewer Reef, this 12-metre-tall structure features more than 20 marine sculptures created out of stainless steel and marine-grade cement. The sculptures are submerged 18 metres deep and weigh over 160 tonnes. Surrounding this house will be a coral nursery (comprising more than 2,000 planted coral fragments) and underwater tresses specifically designed to facilitate coral rehabilitation.

The installation was completed in December 2019 and was scheduled to open in April, but got delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Once launched, tour operators will take snorkellers and divers to explore the underwater art project.

Although the other two installations at Palm Island and Magnetic Island aren&rsquot scheduled to be completed until the end of 2021, the Queensland government expects MOUA to become a famous tourist attraction in the years to come.