John Brewer Reef off the Townsville coast has a history of unique tourist attractions.
In 1988, the site became home to the world's first floating hotel — complete with a nightclub, helipad and tennis court.
These days, the reef is better known as the home of the Museum of Underwater Art – a collection of large sculptures installed on the ocean floor.
"This is the only underwater museum in the Southern Hemisphere," museum chair Paul Victory said.
"So it plays a really important role in in Australia's tourism industry."
The museum opened in 2020 with a coral greenhouse installation, featuring floating trees, coral in planter boxes and sculptures of children.
This month, eight more concrete statues were painstakingly submerged to create a new snorkel and dive trail at the site.
They were built by award-winning British artist Jason deCaires Taylor and modelled on pioneering marine scientists and conservationists.
"They're all permanent creations — they're made from materials that are very similar to rock, they're reinforced with marine-grade stainless steel," Mr deCaires Taylor said.
"The idea is that they sustain a reef, and we want this reef to last a very long time."
Over time, the sculptures will be colonised by marine life.
"Already, they have a thin film of green algae that's forming, already there's some starfish that have crawled up beside, and there's some shoaling fish," Mr deCaires Taylor said.
"They're certainly adapting to the surroundings."
'Ocean sentinels' inspire curiosity
Dubbed the "ocean sentinels", the sculptures are designed to inspire ocean conservation.
Coral reef ecologist Katharina Fabricius was one of the muses.
"Being immortalised in a sculpture normally happens to dead people," Dr Fabricius laughed.
"So having that happen in my lifetime? Yeah, it's an honour."
When she began her career at the Australian Institute of Marine Science 35 years ago, she was one of just three female scientists working on the reef.
"It's a very fragile ecosystem, it's very complex, it's incredibly beautiful," Dr Fabricius said.
"Conservation needs to be communicated in a whole range of different ways, and art is reaching people that scientists sometimes cannot reach.
"It's a living piece of art that communicates to the people how important research is, how important coral reefs are, and how all these aspects – art, science, humanity – can come together to protect the reef."
Community backlash
The sculptures were originally planned for the shallow waters off Magnetic Island, where they would have been more easily accessible for snorkellers.
But the project faced a backlash from locals, who raised objections about installing the artworks in a marine park green zone.
"The idea that they would cause division in a community, it was never something that that we wanted," Mr deCaires Taylor said.
Some locals were also angered by the community consultation process, which Mr Victory defends.
"There were many, many, many consultation opportunities. I don't think that's an issue at all," he said.
Mr Victory said the decision was made to relocate the statues to John Brewer Reef, with the museum obtaining a permit from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
"I'm disappointed personally for Maggie Island, however, the experience out here for visitors [at John Brewer Reef] is going to be first class," he said.
Another art project was planned for the Aboriginal community of Palm Island.
That was also shelved because the museum could not get approval from local elders.
Tourism potential
The Museum of Underwater Art has received about $5 million in government and private funding over the past few years.
Mr Victory hopes the addition of the new sculptures at John Brewer Reef will attract 15,000 visitors a year to the site, as the tourism industry continues to recover from the pandemic.
"I think as the international visitors return, and as our trade visitors return … I'm expecting the flow to really bounce back over the next couple of years," he said.
The museum has not ruled out other underwater exhibits in the future.
