MEMBERS
Andy Viduka
Dr Andy Viduka's research interest includes linking community outcomes with the discovery and protection of underwater cultural heritage. Andy is a keen environmentalist and loves spending time with his family, gardening, travelling, swimming, diving and taking photos. He has great aspirations to learn Croatian, Greek and guitar but never seems to have time.
Craig Forrest
Craig has been diving since 1984 and worked as a diving instructor in South Africa, Greece and Israel, with a keen but amateur interest in wrecks. Professionally, Craig is the Director of the Marine and Shipping Law Unit and Professor in the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland. Before a career in Law, Craig served as a naval officer in the South African Navy.
Steve Reynolds
President for Marine Life Society of SA, Past Secretary & Past Historian for Scuba Divers Federation of SA, Committee Member for Redmap Steering Committee, regular contributor for Dive Log magazine
Ignacio (Iggy) Mattos Santos
International Student at Flinders University - Master Environmental Management Dive Master PADI Wreck Diver IANTD Scientific Diver NAUI Scuba Diver since 1988
James Parkinson
Maritime Archaeologist (Flinders) 20-year member of Maritime Archaeological Association of Victoria Member of WreckCheck Member of AIMA ADAS Training and Assessment Manager ADAS Part 1 & Part 3 Supervisor 5000+ Occupational dives Coxswain
Nicholas (Nick) Williams
Keen to preserve South Australia's maritime history. boat support to brother Guy. Interests include photography and research. Former diver now retired.
Luke Hentschke
I am a 22 year old Advanced Open water Diver with a passion in marine conservation and dive photography. As I am a data communications technician by trade, I have a strong technical background. I also have a reasonable knowledge on marine species. Through participating in GIRT scientific divers, I hope to broaden my knowledge in the marine environments and become more involved in the marine industry in the future.
Caitlin Wenke
I'm currently studying a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Spatial Science. I'm passionate about marine ecology, GIS and conservation, and have my advanced OW license. Through GIRT I'm excited to apply my skills to add to the scientific database and communicate findings to the public.
Rick Bullers
Rick is a maritime archaeologist working for Heritage South Australia, administering the maritime heritage program for South Australia. His main research interest is in Australian colonial ships and shipbuilding, and has published widely in this field.
Jeff Bowey
Whilst a relatively late starter to Diving, once the bug bit there was no turning back, I transferred a lot of skills from my past outdoor activities to SCUBA, Quickly becoming a wreck diver and U/W photographer with numerous other qualifications and yet more to come soon. My Passion for maritime history and archaeology in general along with a desire to preserve the environment saw a natural transition to GIRT.
Guy Williams
Hydrograhic Surveyor monitoring the sand movements around the coast. This involves single line bathymetry with video transects along pre-determined lines. It also consists of diving on brass rods in the sea floor for measuring sea grass loss with underwater photography.
Susanne Rawson
Over the past 15 years I have enjoyed serving in many roles related to cultural heritage preservation, material culture, and archaeology including non-profit, education, and private practice environments. My specialty is working with sites and objects in coastal and maritime environments, although I have been fortunate to be involved with a variety of materials and in locations from the Arctic to the Antarctic, South America and across the Near East and Africa.
Brett Sutton
After a stint in the military, I became dedicated to working in the marine environment as a dive master and freelance commercial diver. Involvement in scientific projects as a commercial diver inspired me to complete a BSc, majoring in Biological Sciences. I'm currently honing my photography and free diving skills, and venturing into the world of marine archaeology.
Dean Danford
Re-discovering how wonderful it was to dive on my 60th birthday, I've spent many hours training in Technical and Wreck diving; and, many more hours visiting wrecks around the world. Fourteen years later, it is high time I gave something back to the diving community. The GIRT philosophy appears a superb method of achieving part of that goal.
Elisabeth Tondl
Elisabeth enjoys engaging with the challenges and excitement of the beautiful underwater world and is keen to expand her scuba skillset and contribute as a citizen scientist. Above the waterline, she works as a research chemist developing drugs for cancer at the University of Sydney.
Matthew Gainsford
Maritime archaeologist. Studied at Flinders SA before moving on to work for the WA Maritime Museum in Fremantle and for both Kalmar Läns museum and Bohusläns museum, Uddevalla, Sweden. Has a contract archaeology and conservation company in NZ called RedOx CHS in Cambridge. RedOx undertake archaeological, conservation and heritage management projects within NZ. Have recently returned to NZ and am working for an archaeology company in Hamilton.
Kim Triegaardt
keen diver since 1982, but bit of a slacker so searching for warm water spots with lots of apres-beach activities that involve umbrellas big and small, you know, the ones that fit in a glass.
Graeme Lehman
Ex Navy with a passion for Wrecks
Virginia Watson
Virginia Watson is the Diector of Dive Otago a PADI 5 Star Career Development Centre in Dunedin. She is passionate about maritime history and in particular the wrecks in the South Island of New Zealand. Virginia's other passion is printmaking. Wrecks and the stories they carry bridge the gap between her work as a dive instructor and an artist. She looks forward to using girt projects to inspire her students and other local enthusiasts to engage in heritage in a meaningful way.
Thomas Habel
Maritime history and archaeology enthusiast. Especially interested in East and South East Asian maritime cultures.
Connor Grzesiak
I am an underwater videographer with a huge passion for maritime archaeology and telling the incredible stories buried in our oceans! After volunteering for several years with the Anglo~Danish Maritime Archaeological team in preserving shipwrecks across the Caribbean, I am keen to start collaborating with GIRT divers to document Australia's amazing underwater cultural heritage and educate the public on their rich history.
Jane Haikney
Recreational diver currently based in Brisbane and looking forward to helping survey some sites!
Hayden Riethmuller
Hayden Riethmuller Hoping to learn about Australian Heritage and help monitor the wrecks on the Qld Coast
Sara Hasan
Keen recreational, technical wreck diver with commercial diving qualification. Member of the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) UK since 2009, now a NAS Tutor and volunteer. When not diving, earn a living as a Hyperbaric Critical Care Nurse.
Neil Burgess
Neil is passionate about engaging recreational divers in documenting and monitoring shipwrecks in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada. He is a co-founder of the charity Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland & Labrador. Neil is a NAS tutor and a certified technical, full cave, and scientific diver. In 2023, he is completed a B.A. in Archaeology at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Michel Cloutier
I love scuba diving, archaeology, history and traveling. I am a Master Scuba Diver with many shipwreck associated certificates from PADI. I have NAS 1 and I plan on doing more with NAS in the next few years. I am working my way to volunteer my time in UW or land archaeology when I retire in about two years’ time.
David Liew
Since starting to dive my passions for exploration and archaeology have become intertwined. Along with my inquisitive nature and this passion I am drawn back to the underwater world to see and understand the effects of time and the environment.
Emma Harris
Love for the ocean and adventure lead to the first scuba diving qualification being undertaken in 2001. Since then my passion for marine life, wrecks and archaeology has only grown. Being U.K. based, it takes a lot more than low vis and cold temperatures to stop me entering the water.
Colin Wilson
Special Effects Makeup artist who become interested in a shipwreck near me (SS Maitland - May 6th 1898) have done a short tribute film regarding the wreck.
Riccardo Mandolini
Originally from Italy where I have been diving since 2003 and grew my interests on Maritime Archaeology. Currently studying at JCU in Townsville, QLD.
Amer Khan
Co-Founder/Director of the Maritime Archaeology and Heritage Institute in Karachi, Pakistan.
Rob Konings
Started as a recreational diver, I became fascinated by the professional diving world. After being trained as a professional diver, I have worked for a number of years as a professional diver, mainly in the field of civil underwater construction and search and recovery. After a career switch, away from professional diving, I took up diving again for recreational purposes and as a volunteer diver, combined with technical diving and underwater archaeology. In this last area I have become increasingly skilled by participating in courses, fieldschools and contributing to and management of archaeological and conservation projects in the Netherlands and the U.K.
Karin Murray-Bergquist
Karin Murray-Bergquist is a PhD student in folklore, as well as an actor, writer, and artist, based in Newfoundland.
Mike Pitul
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Alexandra Tyas
I am a PhD student in archaeology, and my research is surrounding community engagement in underwater archaeology. I am a commercial diver, and have been diving since 2012. I am passionate about our underwater world, and am excited to share my passion with others!
Christopher Nipper
Amateur underwater Historical enthusiast. The love of old stuff and the love of diving goes together. Trained as a Medical Laboratory Technologist, has worked for 30 years in Scientific Technical Sales.
Darren Smith
Just your average scuba diver that enjoys exploring history below the surface!
Sam Monsen
Archaeologist in Iceland interested in community maritime archaeology
Maria Michael
Maria Michael has an undergraduate degree in archaeology and history from the University of Cyprus in Cyprus, and a MA in Maritime Archaeology from the University of Southampton in the UK. Her MA thesis was entitled “Ship Graffiti: Context as Indicators of Social, Ritual, Practical and Economic Activities in the past”. In January 2018, having secured an Honor Frost (HFF) doctoral scholarship, she started the PhD program at the University of Southampton, under the supervision of Dr. Julian Whitewright, Dr. Anna Collar, and Dr. Jaco Weinstock. The PhD thesis entitled “To fish or not to fish? The case study of fishing activity in Cyprus” attempts for the first time to gather all the available evidence for fishing (e.g. harpoons or spears, fish hooks, stone, clay, bronze or lead weights for net or line and traps) in Cyprus in a single body of evidence in order to interpret correctly the archaeologically neglected aspect of the fishery. In 2021, she has defenced her PhD, and she completed her PhD. Since 2006, Maria has participated in many terrestrial and underwater projects in Cyprus, Greece, Egypt and the UK, and she has presented her work at various conferences (e.g. POCA, IKUWA, HFF conference, MAGS). She has also participated in many outreach projects and training courses about remote sensing techniques, GIS and conservation. Since 2012, Maria has been working as a field archaeologist at the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (Bi-communal program), where she has directed and conducted excavations and exhumations on both sides of the island.
Sigurdur Kristjansson
M.D. , diver, interest in local and maritime history
Mark Ryan
Mark started diving in 1985. becoming a SCUBA Instructor the early 90s. In 2004 he started Aquability, a SCUBA Diving training centre in Melbourne. Always with an interest in shipwrecks & their history, Mark has become an avid wreck diver. He has won several awards for his work in research & locating shipwrecks. He currently is the Founding Member of Southern Ocean Exploration, Vice President of the Maritime Archaeology Association of Victoria & the Senior Tutor for AIMA/NAS.
Linda Fielder
Open Water -NAUI - 1988 Bougainville Island NSP Advanced Open Water -PADI -1991 Port Hedland, WA Rescue Diver -PADI -1998 - Groote Eylandt, NT Dive master - PADI - 1999- Groote Eylandt, NT Nitrox -PADI - 2018 - Cairns, QLD
Kurt Bennett
Dr Kurt Bennett, Archaeologist, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
AJ Moore
Happiest in the sea, by the sea, thinking about the sea, advocating for the sea... GIRT combines core interests of natural and cultural heritage, through the limitless potential of people-powered change. Keen to see and support a global movement in citizen-science-enabled conservation, AJ joined GIRT for the vision, niche training and the opportunity to contribute on the front line. AJ has undergrads in Archaeology & Paleoanthropology, is AIMA/NAS trained in maritime, studied Sustainability at Cambridge, and works in strategy and analysis.
Riki Everest
53 yrs old. Male. 33 yrs spent commercially free diving for Abalone. Live on Stewart Island, NZ Qual PADI Rescue Diver. Father of 3.
Harley Lawson
From Motueka New Zealand with a huge love of the outdoors and conservation. Training Padi dive instructor. Currently working for Dive Otago as a skipper. Married to Clare Gunton (bad as outdoor bush lady with a massive love for the outdoors and conservation).
IAN WARNE
Ian Warne former Past President and Life Member of MAAWA
Alistair Day
TBA
Zoe Snedden
Marine and Maritime Studies teacher from Western Australia who has a keen interest in diving, the marine environment and archaeology.
Youri Casselein
Youri Casselein Started diving in 2009, IANTD advanced trimix certified. Have been involved in maritime archaeology through Southern Ocean Exploration, AIMA/NAS.
James Cigognini
Keen Diver, qualified to 70m Love the footy and golf
Patrick Morrison
Maritime Archaeologist from Western Australia.
Mac Mccaskey
1st dive qual attained 1974 by Jack Sue. Twenty years military service, and a further twenty working mining and gas, specializing in Emergency Management. Currently living my best life undertaking my own projects and assisting where I can in others. Dive interests include detection and recovery of lost personal items, volunteer with Sea Rescue and MAAWA.
Liam Norris
I'm a qualified archaeologist and maritime archaeologist in training. I've been diving since 2022 and have a keen interest in the shipwrecks of the NSW South Coast.
Wan chin Ryan
a PADI scuba instructor based in Subic Bay, Philippines, with a passion for wreck diving, underwater cultural heritage, and conservation. She actively supports responsible diving practices and the protection of historic shipwrecks, and serves as a Representative of the Olongapo Zambales Divers Association (OZDA), working closely with the local dive community.