Four 19th-century shipwrecks found off Qld

Four 19th-century shipwrecks have been discovered off Queensland's coast, but experts say identifying them will not be easy.

Archaeologists from the Australian National Maritime Museum uncovered the vessels at Kenn Reef, more than 500km off central Queensland.

More than a dozen iron anchors, several copper-alloy fasteners and at least six cannons were found at depths up to 10m.

Dr James Hunter said it was an amazing feeling to set eyes on what remained of the ships more than 150 years after they went down, although identifying them would be no easy feat.

"This will take months of careful examination of the archaeological discoveries against historical records, including ship's logs and accounts of shipwrecks in newspapers from the period," he said.

Most of the reef's wrecks are trading vessels that were travelling from places such as India and Indonesia.

The team of eight archaeologists departed Bundaberg on January 19 in search of eight ships known to have been wrecked in the area, which was a hazardous stretch for ships in the 19th century.

In particular, they had been looking for the wrecks of the brig Bona Vista, lost in 1828, and the barque Jenny Lind, which was lost in 1850.

The team is the same dive crew that, in 2009, found the government schooner Mermaid wrecked in 1829 off the coast of Cairns.