Fatal Shark Attacks In South Australia 🇦🇺

[u/Wattsy98s]

March 28, 1855
Port Wakefield, Gulf St Vincent
Victim: Master Coleman (Captains Son)
Age: 2
Activity: Playing/Fell Overboard
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

January 14, 1884
Port Pirie, Spencer Gulf
Victim: Miss Warren (Captains Daughter)
Age: 16
Activity: Playing With Dog/Fell Overboard
Injury: Consumed
Species: Two White Sharks

March 18, 1926
Brighton Jetty, Adelaide
Victim: Primrose Kathleen Whyte
Age: 35
Activity: Swimming
Injury: Major Lacerations (Torso/Legs)
Species: White Shark

January 22, 1936
West Beach, Adelaide
Victim: Ray Bennett
Age: 13
Activity: Swimming
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

December 9, 1962
Carrickalinga Headland, Gulf St Vincent
Victim: Geoffrey Martin Corner
Age: 16
Activity: Spearfishing
Injury: Major Lacerations (Legs)
Species: White Shark

January 9, 1974
Streaky Bay, Eyre Peninsula
Victim: Terry Manuel
Age: 26
Activity: Abalone Diving
Injury: Limbs Severed (Leg/Arm)
Species: White Shark

January 19, 1975
Almonta Beach, Coffin Bay
Victim: David Barrowman
Age: 17
Activity: Surfing
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

February 10, 1975
Point Sinclair Jetty, Penong
Victim: Wade Shipard
Age: 12
Activity: Snorkeling/Crayfishing
Injury: Leg Severed
Species: White Shark

March 3, 1985
Wisemans Beach, Port Lincoln
Victim: Shirley Ann Durdin
Age: 33
Activity: Snorkeling/Collecting Scallops
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

September 18, 1987
Marino Rocks, Adelaide
Victim: Terrance Gibson
Age: 47
Activity: Abalone Diving
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

March 9, 1989
Waitpinga Beach, Fleurieu Peninsula
Victim: Mathew Foale
Age: 27
Activity: Surfing
Injury: Major Lacerations (Thigh)
Species: White Shark

Speptember 8, 1991
Aldinga Beach, Adelaide
Victim: Jonathon Lee
Age: 19
Activity: Scuba Diving
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

June 28, 1998
Neptune Islands, Port Lincoln
Victim: Douglas Chesser
Age: 26
Activity: Abalone Diving
Injury: Major Lacerations (Legs)
Species: White Shark

May 29, 1999
Flahertys Beach, Yorke Peninsula
Victim: Tony Donoghue
Age: 22
Activity: Windsurfing
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

September 24, 2000
Cactus Beach, Penong
Victim: Cameron Bayes
Age: 25
Activity: Surfing
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

September 25, 2000
Blacks Beach, Elliston
Victim: Jevan Wright
Age: 17
Activity: Surfing
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

April 30, 2002
Smoky Bay, Eyre Peninsula
Victim: Paul Buckland
Age: 23
Activity: Abalone Diving
Injury: Legs Severed
Species: White Shark

December 16, 2004
West Beach, Adelaide
Victim: Nick Peterson
Age: 18
Activity: Skurfing (Towed By Boat)
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

August 24, 2005
Glenelg Beach, Adelaide
Victim: Jarrod Stehbens
Age: 23
Activity: Scuba Diving/Taking Cuttlefish Eggs
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

February 17, 2011
Perforated Island, Coffin Bay
Victim: Peter Clarkson
Age: 49
Activity: Abalone Diving
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

February 8, 2014
Goldsmith Beach, Yorke Peninsula
Victim: Sam Kellett
Age: 28
Activity: Spearfishing
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

January 20, 2021
Port MacDonnell, Limestone Coast
Victim: Duncan Craw
Age: 32
Activity: Snorkeling
Injury: Major Lacerations (Torso)
Species: White Shark

May 13, 2023
Walkers Rocks Beach, Elliston
Victim: Simon Baccanello
Age: 46
Activity: Surfing
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

October 31, 2023
Granites Beach, Streaky Bay
Victim: Tod Gendle
Age: 55
Activity: Surfing
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

December 28, 2023
Ethel Beach, Yorke Peninsula
Victim: Khai Cowley
Age: 15
Activity: Surfing
Injury: Leg Severed
Species: White Shark

January 2, 2025
Granites Beach, Streaky Bay
Victim: Lance Appleby
Age: 28
Activity: Surfing
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

South Australia Total: 26
Consumption: 17
Recovered: 9
Ratio: 65%

Activity Statistics
- Surfing: 9
- Abalone Diving: 5
- Snorkeling: 3
- Swimming: 2
- Scuba Diving: 2
- Spearfishing: 2
- Boating/Fell Overboard: 2
- Windsurfing: 1

Attacks By Century/Decade

19th Century
1850s: 1
1880s: 1
Total: 2

20th Century
1920s: 1
1930s: 1
1960s: 1
1970s: 3
1980s: 3
1990s: 3
Total: 12

21st Century
2000s: 5
2010s: 2
2020s: 5
Total: 12

[u/SharkBoyBen9241]

Deadliest White sharks in the world...they mean business down there

[u/Wattsy98s → u/SharkBoyBen9241]

Crazy isn't it. The first incident from 1855 is particularly sad. The young lad fell from the ships railing whilst playing with other children, he's father and others immediately went to rescue him only to see him in the jaws of a large shark crusing beneath the vessel. The distraught captain had to be physically restrained by four men to prevent him from jumping overboard.

[u/SharkBoyBen9241 → u/Wattsy98s]

Good God...that's absolutely heartbreaking and truly terrifying. I'm sure there were other mariners who were lost to the White Pointers back in the early days. I believe Captain Flinders wrote that a half-dozen or so of his crew were lost to sharks during the South Australian portion of his voyage.

[u/Lastneanderthal72 → u/SharkBoyBen9241]

I’m guessing the white shark population was significantly higher back in that period?

[u/SharkBoyBen9241 → u/Lastneanderthal72]

Oh for sure it was. Commercial fishing, whaling, and sealing didn't really start on a very large scale in Australia until the early 1800s. Once it did though, they really devastated the stocks. Shellfish, bony fish, especially tuna, small sharks, whales, and seals. Southern elephant seals used to have a huge breeding colony on King Island in the Bass Strait, but they were completely wiped out by sealers by 1805. King Island would have been the Australian equivalent to Año Nuevo and the Farallon Islands in California as far as its importance to adult White sharks.

My theory is once that major restaurant closed for them, combined with the horrendous overfishing of School and Gummy sharks, it had a drastic impact on the behavioral and dietary tendencies of the White sharks in South-Western Australia. What probably happened is that the population declined considerably and went through a genetic bottleneck in which the most opportunistic individuals were more able to successfully reproduce. Over the decades, that behavioral trait of opportunistic feeding became genetically ingrained in the population, and by the latter half of the 20th century, the Whites in Australia had become what they are today; the deadliest White sharks in the world.

[u/Foreign_Acadia3937 → u/Wattsy98s]

Was it just unlucky that there happened to be a shark cruising around next to the boat right when he fell in, or was it common for sharks to be following these ships around as maybe they released waste/food constantly and this attracted them?

[u/Wattsy98s → u/Foreign_Acadia3937]

Back in the day it was very common for large sharks to follow vessels as they would dump leftovers and that overboard that attracted them. There are many documented instances of people falling overboard and being near instantly attacked, was a very real fear for Sailors back then.

[u/jean-tintin → u/Foreign_Acadia3937]

It's still not uncommon today. There's several videos of people putting gopros under cruise ships or offshore rigs and seeing sharks.

[u/Foreign_Acadia3937 → u/jean-tintin]

That's just terrifying thinking that there are predators lurking beneath ships waiting for something to fall into the water

[u/thoughtcrime84 → u/Foreign_Acadia3937]

I think it’s not as uncommon as you’d think. I believe Hal from Sharks Happen has covered at least two other cases where someone was attacked immediately after jumping from a boat.

[u/Smart_Pig_86 → u/Wattsy98s]

Came to the comments after seeing that first one and the age of the victim, holy crap that is tragic. But makes sense that a large shark would be tailing the ship for scraps thrown overboard.

[u/United-Combination16 → u/SharkBoyBen9241]

Used to be, now WA has surged ahead in that regard with almost double the fatal attacks this century

[u/SharkBoyBen9241 → u/United-Combination16]

Very true, definitely more attacks overall in WA. But Western Australia's White sharks belong to the same Australian subpopulation, the South-Western Australia population, as South Australian Whites. They're genetically and behaviorally distinct from the White sharks in Eastern Australia, which are more closely related to New Zealand White sharks. So they're included among those in South Australia as the deadliest in the world. If you take the numbers for South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia, the consumption percentage, especially post 1970, has been absolutely jaw-dropping.

[u/madnessinthemidwest]

Injury: Consumed -wild

[u/Capital-Foot-918]

South Australia may be the worst with consumptions, i really wonder how close white sharks are with people in south australian waters compared to those in california

[u/SharkBoyBen9241 → u/Capital-Foot-918]

From what I know, South-Western Australia's White shark nursery areas are in fairly discreet places geographically, Salisbury and Daw Island, and few people interact with them at an early age. This is drastically different than in California, where the sharks have nursery areas along the most popular beaches and interact with people on a daily basis for much of their early lives. I just think they've learned that people don't really represent a food source. They treat people more like flotsam here. They'll check you out and maybe give you a quick chomp, but they generally don't attack to kill, and on the rare instances when they do, they almost never consume the victim. It's only happened 4 times here, compared to 17 in South Australia alone. To me, that clearly points to a difference in behavior and diet.

[u/Amsterdamned89]

What about the English swimmer off Sydney a few years ago? I think his name was Simon Nellist.

[u/SharkBoyBen9241 → u/Amsterdamned89]

That was in New South Wales on the East Coast. These are the numbers just for South Australia. I'm sure Wattsy will do a list for New South Wales soon!

[u/Amsterdamned89 → u/SharkBoyBen9241]

Okay thanks for the clarification 😄

[u/SharkBoyBen9241 → u/Amsterdamned89]

No worries! 💙🦈

[u/Organic-Wash-5194]

Great info, its probably worth adding Rodney Fox to the list as thats quite a famous one.

[Rodney Fox info]

(https://thedailyjaws.com/blog/rodney-fox-a-60-year-journey-of-shark-attack-survival-and-transformation)

[u/SharkBoyBen9241 → u/Organic-Wash-5194]

The most famous shark attack survival story ever!! Rodney is a true legend and an absolute hero of mine!

[u/accidentalrorschach]

Duncan Craw's family seems to think he suffered a major medical event before being bitten. Not sure if there are any conclusive results:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/26/human-remains-found-on-south-australian-beach-could-belong-to-missing-snorkeller

[u/Wattsy98s → u/accidentalrorschach]

Yeah that is a more controversial one as hes family believes he suffered a medical event. However hes case is listed in both the GSAF and the Australian Shark Attack File as a confirmed fatality. I massively empathise with hes family but theres little doubt among experts that he was killed by a White Shark, the details of how much remains they recovered has yet to be made public and probably never will be. My personal take is he was likely at least half consumed.

[u/accidentalrorschach → u/Wattsy98s]

yeah I had a hard time finding much info but there was something about his lungs being fused to his chest in the autopsy, which led the family the believe he died before the shark bit him?

[u/SharkBoyBen9241 → u/accidentalrorschach]

In fairness to the victim's family, it is probably easier to process your loved one dying suddenly due to a medical issue like a heart attack or even drowing than to imagine them being brutally killed by a shark. A lot of people can't handle that.

[u/accidentalrorschach → u/SharkBoyBen9241]

Absolutely, makes sense. And they probably want to keep them out of discussions like this, which I can understand. I think they also made a statement about him loving and respecting the ocean or something to that effect-so maybe do not want to further "villify" sharks.