The Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA) is a series of large-scale sculptures installed on the seafloor off Townsville, designed by British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor. Each piece serves a dual purpose: as a work of art viewed by snorkellers and divers, and as an artificial reef structure that encourages coral growth and provides habitat for marine life. The sculptures are made from pH-neutral marine cement and are designed to be colonised by the reef over decades.
The main site is Ocean Sims, on John Brewer Reef about 70 km offshore, with a second gallery — Coral Greenhouse — at a shallower site closer to shore. Both are accessible via day trips from Townsville. The concept is unusual and genuinely effective: within a year of installation, the sculptures were already developing significant coral cover. It is unlike anything else on the Great Barrier Reef.