Australian Government, Heritage Division – Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Underwater Cultural Heritage Management, Public Archaeology, Maritime Archaeology, Archaeological Site Object Conservation

Dr. Andrew (Andy) Viduka is a maritime archaeologist and archaeological objects conservator employed by the Australian Government as the Assistant Director of Underwater Cultural Heritage. Andy co-drafted the Australian Government’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018 which he administers, co-developed the Australian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database, leads the Australian Underwater Cultural Heritage Program, and Australia’s consideration of ratification of the UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.

Andy is actively involved in maritime archaeological projects with the not-for-profit research group Wreck Check Inc, capacity building training, and continuing his research interest in linking community outcomes with the discovery and protection of underwater cultural heritage. Andy’s PhD was on ‘A public good conservation approach for underwater cultural management through citizen science’ and in 2018 he founded the citizen science project Gathering Information via Recreational and Technical (GIRT) Scientific Divers. He is the Director of GIRT Scientific Divers Pty Ltd, an Honorary Associate of the University of New England (Armidale, Australia), a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, an ICOMOS – ICUCH Bureau Member, an ICOMOS – ICAHM member, a Councillor of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (AIMA), and a member of the Australian Citizen Science Association.

In 2022, he co-authored a book based on Wreck Check research in 2015-2016 titled, ‘Misadventures in Nature’s Paradise: Australia’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island during the Dutch era’.