Common questions, answered.

Before training starts you need all of the following. You don't need them to enrol, but they must be sorted before training begins. We'll help point you in the right direction for each:

• 18 years old at commencement of training.
• AS2299 Occupational Diving Medical from a SPUMS-listed doctor (see the SPUMS website for the doctor list).
• Open Water Diver qualification or equivalent.
• Current First Aid certificate: HLTAID011, HLTAID014 or PUAEME001 (3-year currency).
• Current Oxygen Management: HLTAID015 or PUAEME003 (12-month currency, includes CPR refresher HLTAID009).
• Understand written and verbal English, with a suitable level of numeracy.
• Swim test: 200 m in 8 minutes (in bathers) and tread water 10 minutes in overalls or long pants & shirt. This is done at the school during the first week of the course.

You'll also need your own personal kit: 7 mm wetsuit (two-piece or semi-dry) with separate hood, booties, fins, gloves, half-mask, weight belt, work boots, long-sleeve work shirt and pants, plus weather-appropriate outerwear. We supply all SCUBA and SSBA equipment.

Eight weeks back-to-back, on-site at our Burra facility. Most students take this option. It is the most efficient path from recreational to working diver.

All teaching, all dives, and all use of training equipment for the duration of the course. ADAS certification fees are separate and cover the cost of your ADAS certification. We collect these at the end of your course and pay them to ADAS on your behalf. You will need your own basic recreational dive gear (mask, fins, exposure suit) and any prerequisite tickets (recreational dive, first aid, divers medical) before day one.

Australia is currently short on commercial divers. We have active links with contractors in aquaculture, construction, civil and inspection work across Australia, and during your course we help you prepare for that crucial first job: CV, interview prep, and pointing you at the contractors we know are hiring. Offshore oil & gas is a separate career track requiring ADAS Part 3 or Part 4. Many of our graduates step up to those qualifications elsewhere after a few years onshore.

We don't, because we can't guarantee what the industry will do, and we'd argue no one can. What we offer instead is a 30-year track record, 1200+ working graduates, and job-preparation support during your course: CV, interview prep, and pointing you at the contractors we know are hiring. The industry is short on divers right now; the real question isn't whether you'll get a job, it's whether you'll get good work, fast, with employers who value the school you trained at.

Burra has shared houses and cottages, pubs and motels, a caravan park, and Airbnb options, most within walking or short driving distance of the centre. Many students share a house with classmates to bring the cost down. See our full Accommodation page for the same list we send out in our info pack, with phone numbers and links, and once you enrol we add you to the student WhatsApp group where housemates and lifts get sorted.

DCIEM (Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine) tables, never US Navy. This is the Australian commercial diving standard.

Small. Class sizes are capped so every student gets real time in the water and real time on the panels, not standing around watching someone else dive.