The Victorian Ships' Graveyard was the official dumping ground for Melbourne's unwanted hulls: an unregulated 'outer Heads' area used from about 1900, and from 1932 the proclaimed Commonwealth Area No. 3, a 6 km circle about 10 km south-west of Barwon Heads in 40–60 m. More than 46 vessels were stripped, towed out through The Rip and sunk with gelignite between 1913 and 1971, and all are protected historic shipwrecks. Burke was the sister of the Wills: an iron steam hopper barge of 345 tons gross (183 net), 39 m (128 ft) long with a 30 ft beam, built in Adelaide in 1884 for the Melbourne Harbour Trust and named for Robert O'Hara Burke of the ill-fated 1860 expedition.

She spent almost fifty years shuttling dredge spoil from the Trust's dredges in the Yarra and the bay channels to the dumping grounds, unglamorous work that made the modern port possible. Offered for sale as scrap in November 1934 with the Wills, Batman, Fawkner and H.C. Piggot, she was instead scuttled in the Graveyard on 23 September 1935.

The wreck lies in about 50 m in the western part of the field, 500 m from the Euro and within a kilometre of the Pioneer and H.C. Piggot, in the densest cluster of wrecks in the ground. The Scuba Doctor gives no description of the hull, and published diver reports are scarce; divers should expect the same layout as the other Harbour Trust barges – bow and stern sections standing, an open hopper amidships, boiler and engine aft – with the western Graveyard's sponge and zoanthid growth and resident ling, bullseyes and crayfish.

Visibility is typically 10–20 m in autumn. At 50 m the Burke is a normoxic-trimix dive of the same profile as the Euro and Pioneer, and it is sometimes dived as the quieter second wreck on a technical day built around one of those. It suits technical divers who want an unhurried, uncomplicated hull to practise on, and, like the Wills, it would repay a proper survey – the record for the Adelaide-built pair is thin compared with their Scottish-built sisters.

Boat only. The western end of the Ships' Graveyard sits 8–12 km south of Barwon Heads and is normally reached from Queenscliff Harbour (Red Boats, Dive Victoria Group technical charters) – a 40–60 minute run out through The Rip and west along the Bellarine coast – or occasionally from the Barwon Heads river ramp in a small boat when the bar is flat. Drive Melbourne–Queenscliff via the Geelong Ring Road and Bellarine Highway (about 1 h 40 min).

Technical charters usually load at the harbour before dawn to get the wreck dived before the afternoon sea breeze. Private boats need a reliable sounder and the published GPS marks, as nothing shows on the surface.

Fully exposed Bass Strait. South-westerly swell is the killer: most charters will not run on a forecast over about 1.5 m, and anything from the south or west over 2 m makes the site undiveable and the passage through The Rip dangerous. Northerly and north-easterly winds flatten the sea; a calm morning after several settled days gives the best visibility (often 15–25 m in autumn and winter).

Surge is felt on the wreck in any swell over 1 m. Tidal streams outside The Heads are weaker than inside but still run; charters aim for slack water at Port Phillip Heads or a favourable tide for the transit. Winter westerlies close the site for weeks at a time.

The wreck sits in or near the shipping approach and pilot boarding ground, so a shot line, surface cover and a delayed SMB are mandatory.

Shot amidships; run the 39 m hull bow to stern and back at 47–50 m, then ascend the shot with 25–35 minutes of decompression. Often done as the second dive after the Euro 500 m away.

Technical (decompression) dive. Normoxic trimix (e.g. 21/35 or 18/45) recommended; 20 min bottom time gives roughly 25–40 min of decompression on EAN50 and oxygen. Air dives to this depth are strongly discouraged.

Drop a weighted shot on the wreck, use a delayed SMB from the wreck or a decompression trapeze under the boat; the site is in a shipping approach so free-drifting deco is discouraged.

No scheduled recreational charters. Red Boats (Queenscliff), Dive Victoria Group and Bay City Charters' technical boat run deep Graveyard charters on request or a few times a season for Melbourne technical clubs (Divernet 2024 also names Chimney Rock Charters and Scubabo); otherwise private technical boats only. Expect the wreck to see only a handful of dives a year.