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. Victorian was an iron screw steamer of 718 tons built by D. and W.

Henderson at Glasgow in 1876, one of the small passenger-cargo steamers that worked the Australian coastal trades in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. After fire damage in Sydney she was cut down to a coal hulk, ending her days bunkering steamers in Hobsons Bay, and on 8 May 1925 she was towed out and scuttled in the unregulated outer Heads dumping ground – seven years before the official Graveyard was proclaimed, which is part of why her position is uncertain. The Scuba Doctor lists her at about 45 m with a position taken from the Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database that it flags as approximate and unlikely to be accurate, 226 m north of the Beverwijk 19 and 791 m south-south-east of VHB 54.

No description of the wreck itself has been published, and it is possible that the hull has never been positively identified on the seabed – a stripped iron hulk with no boilers or engine is notoriously hard to find on a sounder, as the Dunloe page notes. What a diver would expect, by analogy with the other 1920s hulks in the ground, is a collapsed iron hull with bow and stern standing a few metres off the sand and the midships flat, colonised by the sponges and zoanthids of the western Graveyard. Depth and position should be treated as unconfirmed, and any team that does locate and identify the Victorian would be adding genuinely new information to the record.

It is a target for exploratory technical divers with a good sounder rather than a dive to plan a day around; the Beverwijk 19, Batman and Fawkner a few hundred metres away are the reliable options in this corner of the ground.

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.

No established dive. If located by sounder near the Beverwijk 19, treat as a 45 m normoxic-trimix dive on an unknown iron hull: shot it, survey one lap in 20 minutes and decompress on the shot.

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. Exploratory – identify the hull before committing to a full dive plan.

No operator. The wreck's position is unconfirmed – the Scuba Doctor notes the national database mark is unlikely to be accurate – so it is effectively undived; technical teams searching the western Graveyard by sounder are the only likely visitors.