Museum of Underwater Art

Orpheus Island Lodge is one of only five commercial tourism operators that has access to Townsville’s newest tourism attraction the Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA). Guests staying at Orpheus can take a private charter boat to the ‘Coral Greenhouse’ at John Brewer Reef, a dive site which features around 20 installations submerged to a depth of around 18 metre; or ‘Ocean Sentinel’ located at a depth of 5 meters and just a short swim from the Coral Greenhouse installation, both created by world-renowned underwater sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor.

Guests can be inspired as they experience the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef with a new and thought-provoking encounter at the Museum of Underwater Art. The Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA) is the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Situated in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park 32NM from Orpheus Island Lodge, MOUA offers a contemporary platform to share the stories of the reef, and the culture of its First Nations people, as well as spark a meaningful conversation and solution to reef conservation.

Coral Greenhouse

The ‘Coral Greenhouse’ is located in the heart of the Greater Barrier Reef Marine Park at John Brewer Reef and is the largest MOUA installation, sharing a message of reef conservation and restoration.

Weighing more than 58 tonnes, the ‘Coral Greenhouse’ is filled with 20 reef guardians who are propagating coral spreading the message of reef conservation.

Fast facts:

• Made from stainless steel and pH-neutral materials to complement natural coral growth
• John Brewer Reef, located in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, is a naturally-formed reef, with some weather protection, 10-15metre visibility, natural coral walls and a flat sandy base
• For thousands of years the Wulgurukaba people and other groups paddled these waters trading along the coast between tribal groups. These people had an intimate understanding of their environment, the seasons and the spirituality behind it all.
• The reef was named after a troop ship named John Brewer sailing from Sydney to India in 1842.

Ocean Sentinels

New to the Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA), ‘Ocean Sentinels’ is a captivating new series of underwater sculptures by Jason de Caires Taylor and the latest breathtaking installation at John Brewer Reef. Just a short distance from the ‘Coral Greenhouse’, ‘Ocean Sentinels’ features eight new sculptures modelled off world-leading marine scientist and conservationists which highlights their significant contributions to reef protection, with the surfaces and forms of the artworks designed to be colonised by marine life over time. Each sculpture stands at 2.2 metres tall and submerged in around 5 metres of water which make them ideal for snorkellers to view.

Orpheus Island Lodge is one of only five commercial tourism operators that will be offering tours to the ‘Coral Greenhouse’ and ‘Ocean Sentinels’ at John Brewer Reef.