Museum of Underwater Art, Australia

The Museum of Underwater Art or MOUA was formed in 2017 as a not for profit organisation to provide an underwater experience which inspires reef conservation and conversation.[1] and generates jobs, employment and tourism [2]

Operation

The MOUA is managed by MOUA Ltd, a Not For Profit, Donation Gift Recipient company. The Chairman of the MOUA Board is Paul Victory[3] and Deputy Chair is Dr Adam Smith[4]

Funding for MOUA has been provided by Queensland and Australian government and local businesses.[5] MOUA has several permits for facilities and moorings. The annual monitoring plan includes surveys of infrastructure, marine life, social, coral propagation and marine debris.[6] Reef Ecologic and MOUA initiated a citizen science iNaturalist project of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists taking photos and sharing observations of biodiversity of marine species at John Brewer Reef[7] which has over 450 observations of 227 species with the most observed species the Whitetip reef shark

The MOUA works closely with government, scientists, tourism operators,[8] traditional owners[9] from the Manbarra[10] and Wulgurukaba groups.

The MOUA launched an exhibition Ocean Sentinels above water at Museum of Tropical Queensland in 2022. This includes eight sculptures of scientists,[11] conservationists and indigenous people. There has been extensive public consultation[12] and it is proposed that the Ocean Sentinels will be installed as a snorkel trail at Magnetic Island and John Brewer Reef

Sculptures

The MOUA has installed two underwater sculptures:

  1. The Ocean Siren[13] on the Strand Townsville created by Jason deCaires Taylor and installed in December 2019 is made from stainless steel, fibreglass and is a 4m high illuminated sculpture. The Ocean Siren was modelled on Takoda Johnson, a young indigenous girl from the Wulgurukaba tribe reacts to live water temperature data from the Australian Institute of Marine Science Davies Reef weather station on the Great Barrier Reef and changes colour in response to live variations in water temperature.
  2. The Coral Greenhouse[14] at John Brewer Reef created by Jason deCaires Taylor and installed in December 2019 is made from stainless steel and concrete and at 12 m × 9 m × 9.3 m (39 ft × 30 ft × 31 ft) and 165 t (162 long tons; 182 short tons) is the world's largest underwater art structure.[15]

Recognition

In 2022, The Coral Greenhouse was recognised as one of the top 20 tourism desnitions in Australia.[16]

In 2022, TThe Coral Greenhouse was awarded silver in The Australian Street Art Awards: Best Sculpture Trail or Park[17]

References
  1. "Museum of Underwater Art".
  2. "Empower Economics (2017) Museum of Underwater Art Economic Impact Assessment. Report prepared for Townsville Enterprise" (PDF).
  3. "ABC News (2016) General Manager of Sealink Paul Victory". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 October 2016.
  4. "Townsville Bulletin (2018) 100 Readers: Marine biologist and ocean lover Doctor Adam Smith pushing for Museum of Underwater Art to be installed on The Strand in 2019". Townsville Bulletin. 2 July 2018.
  5. "Queensland Government (2020) State boosts funding for Townsville's Museum of Underwater Art".
  6. "Smith, A., Cook, N., Molinaro, G. (2021). MOUA Monitoring Plan, 2021 John Brewer Reef".
  7. "iNaturalist project. Citizen science at the coral greenhouse".
  8. "Adrenalin Snorkel and Dive. Great Barrier Reef and MOUA Day Trip".
  9. "Reef Ecologic (2021) Empowering traditional owners key outcomes of reef restoration and leadership workshop".
  10. "Townsville Enterprise (2021) Indigenous guides training program".
  11. "Southern Cross University (2022) Ocean sentinel statue immortalises coral crusader Peter Harrison".
  12. "MOUA Stages 2 and 3 Public Information Package" (PDF).
  13. "Ocean Siren- Museum of Underwater Art".
  14. "Coral greenhouse- Museum of Underwater Art".
  15. "Guinness World Records Largest underwater art structure".
  16. "Lonely Planet- Australia's 20 best travel experiences". TheGuardian.com. 11 April 2022.
  17. "Australian Street Art Awards- Best sculpture trail or park".
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