Great White Shark Attacks in Australia

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teeth and jaw bones of a great white shark

In Australia, white sharks are more commonly found in the south and southwest, however sharks have been observed from central Queensland, New South Wales,Victoria, South Australia and West Australia. White sharks are also found near shore along most of the world's temperate coastlines, including South Africa, Guadeloupe and California. The species is relatively scarce compared to other shark species. Great white sharks have been spotted in Sydney Harbor but such sightings are very rare. In Australia, white sharks are classified as Vulnerable. They are protected in all Australian states and territorial waters.[Source: Victoria Fisheries]

Between 1876 and 1999, there were 52 attacks by great whites in Australia. Of these 27 were fatal. In 1985 a woman was bitten in half and devoured at a public beach at Peake Bay in South Australia. In 1993, newlyweds John and Deborah Ford were scuba diving at a seal rock 600 kilometers north of Sydney. They were decompressing a few meters from the surface when Johan saw a five-meter (16-foot) great white shark heading straight for his wife. He pushed her out of the way only to be swallowed himself.

In Australia there had been a total of 904 unprovoked shark attacks as of 2016, with non-fatal and unprovoked attacks numbering 645 and fatal and unprovoked ones being 259. A good portion of these have been by great white sharks. There were six fatal great white shark attacks in Australia between December 2008 and September 2011. All but one were off the west coast. A 31-year-old man died in 2010 ago while surfing in Cowaramup Bay. In February 2011 a man diving for abalone was savaged off South Australia.

CSIRO, Australia's leading scientific research body, has identified two great white populations in Australia; an eastern population and a southern-western population. "The eastern Australasian population ranges along the entire eastern seaboard from the cold waters as far south as Macquarie Island into tropical waters of Papua New Guinea, and extends eastwards to include New Zealand and tropical islands such as New Caledonia," CSIRO says. "The southern-western population ranges from western Victoria to northwest Western Australia." CSIRO has sized the eastern population at 5460, but admitted there could be more than 12,802 great white cruising the waters. [Source: Raffaella Ciccarelli, Tara Blancato, Nine News, February 17, 2022]

Websites and Resources: Australian Shark Incident Database, Taronga Conservation Society Australia taronga.org.au ; Shark Foundation shark.swiss ; International Shark Attack Files, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks ; Tracking Sharks trackingsharks.com, which records all global shark attacks; Animal Diversity Web (ADW) animaldiversity.org; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) noaa.gov; Fishbase fishbase.se ; Encyclopedia of Life eol.org ; Smithsonian Oceans Portal ocean.si.edu/ocean-life-ecosystems

Great White Shark Attacks in Australia in the Mid 2010s

Examples of white shark tracks off some of the coastal beaches; Plots 1 – 6 show common track behavior; Plot 7 shows the effect of a small school of fish and some seaweed rack, and plots 8 and 9 show the effect of large schools of fish on movement tracks; an image of the shark indicates direction, along with the location, total length (TL) in meters, mean speed (Sp) in meters per second, straightness index (St), and net velocity of shark vector (Ve) in meters per second [Source: “Assessing White Shark Behavior Along Coastal Beaches for Conservation-Focused Shark Mitigation” by Andrew P Colefax et al Sec Marine Biology, April 28, 2020, frontiersinorg

There were several shark attacks off Australia's beaches in the mid 2010s, most of them by great white sharks. Between September 2011 and July 2012, five people were killed off Western Australia's beaches. In November 2013 a man was killed at Campbell's Beach, New South Wales and another man was killed in Gracetown, West Australia. In 2014, a woman was killed at Tathra Beach, New South Wales in April and a man was killed off Goldsmith Beach, South Australia in February.

In September 2014, Paul Wilcox, a 50-year-old Briton, was killed by a great white shark. near Clarkes Beach at Byron Bay, the most easterly point on the Australian mainland, in New South Wales Lifeguard Scott McCartney: "People are scared at how close to shore the attack took place" . The BBC reported: Wilcox sustained severe injuries on his right leg. “A swimmer brought him in to the beach but he was pronounced dead. Beaches in the area have been closed for 24 hours and people have been warned to stay out of the water. [Source: BBC, September 9, 2014]

"At 10:45 police and paramedics were called to Main Beach after reports of a shark attack," New South Wales police said in a statement. "He was in the water when he was bitten. He was seen floating in shallow water, close to the shore line, and dragged onto the beach. An ambulance was called and he was pronounced dead a short time later," the statement said.

“Police said Mr Wilcox's wife was watching from the shore, ABC reported. Witness Mark Hickey said he tried to help. "I saw what looked like seaweed but it was blood in the water," he said. "I didn't know it was a person but when I realised, I ran out and waded to the bank and grabbed him and did CPR but it was too late." He told local media he saw a "six or seven foot" shark in the water. Rescue organisation Surf Lifesaving Australia said the beach was not supervised at the time of the attack as it had occurred a week before seasonal duties.

Abalone Diver Survives Being Swallowed Headfirst by Great White

In January 2007, an abalone diver survived being partly swallowed head first by a great white shark off cape Howe, about 400 kilometers south of Sydney, Australia. The diver, 41-year-old Eric Nerhus, was grabbed by a shark estimated to be about three meters long. It swallowed his head and his face mask, breaking his nose, then let go and came back for second bite. A fellow diver who witnessed the attack said, “The brunt of the attack was taken by lead weight-vest. It’s all over your torso. The bite left deep lacerations on his side but Nerhus managed to wrestle free and poke the shark in the eye. A rescuer who who helped bring Nerhus to the hospital told reporters, “When he came to us he was conscious and alert but had a broken nose and lacerations to both sides of torso and chest — bite marks all the way around.” Nerhus’s 25-year-old son help pull him from the water.

Reuters reported: Nerhus told fellow divers he didn’t see the shark coming as the water was so dirty that visibility was severely limited. “It was black. He didn’t see it coming, but he felt the bite and then started getting shaken, and that’s when he knew he was in the mouth of the shark,” said local diver Michael Mashado. The shark bit Nerhus around the head first, crushing his face mask and breaking his nose, fellow diver and friend Dennis Luobikis told Reuters. “He was actually bitten by the head...the shark swallowed his head,” said Luobikis, adding a second bite by the shark saw it clench its jaw around Nerhus’ torso. “The brunt of the bite was taken by his lead-weight vest. Its all over your torso. Eric said to me at the wharf that his weight vest saved him,” he said. [Source: Michael Perry, Reuters Life!, January 23, 2007]

Abalone divers spend sometimes 6 to 8 hours underwater and use lead weight vests, not lead belts, to stay down. The vests spread the lead weight across the body, minimising back strain. Nerhus fought frantically to free himself from the shark’s jaws and was eventually pulled back aboard his boat by his son. “He pushed his abalone chisel into its head while it was biting and it let him go and swam away,” said Luobikis. Luobikis said it was a miracle his friend had lived. “Eric is a tough boy, he’s super fit. But I would say that would test anyone’s resolve, being a fish lunch,” he said.

Six Killed by Great White Sharks in Australia in 2020

Eight people were killed in unprovoked shark attacks in Australia in 2020, the most since 1934. Of these five were killed by great white sharks. One other was killed in a provoked attack. On January 5, Gary Johnson, a 57-year-old experienced diver, was killed by a great white shark while diving with his wife near Esperance in West Australia. On June 7, Sixty-year-old Rob Pedretti was killed by a great white shark while surfing at Salt Beach near Kingscliff in far northern New South Wales. [Source: Lauren Ferri, Daily Mail Australia, December 12, 2020]

On July 4, spearfisher Matthew Tratt, 36, was mauled to death by a suspected great white shark in a 'provoked' attack on Fraser Island in Queensland. Spearfishing, which produces blood that may attract sharks, is considered a provocation. On July 11, 15-year-old Mani Hart-Deville was surfing when he was killed by a suspected great white shark at Wooli Beach, near Grafton on the New South Wales North Coast

On September 8, 46-year-old Nick Slater was mauled to death by a suspected great white at Greenmount Beach on the Gold Coast On October 9, 52-year-old father-of-two Andrew Sharpe was killed by a shark while surfing at Kelp Beds in Wylie Bay, near Esperance on West Australia’s south coast. Authorities called off a search for the Sharpe’s body. Parts of where last seen in the shark’s jaws.

Professor Rob Harcourt at the department of Marine Ecology at Macquarie University said great white sharks favour cold water, which could be pushing them closer to swimmers and surfers. 'It is full of nutrients and that concentrates a lot of fish so sharks come in to feed on those fish in those cold water upwellings and whites will come in with that,' he said.

Man Killed by Great White Near Sydney in 2022 in “Provoked” Attack

In February 2022, a large shark killed a swimmer off a Sydney beach in the city's first fatal attack in nearly 60 years, causing "catastrophic injuries", police and ambulance services said. Reuters reported: “Witnesses told local television they had seen the attack on a swimmer wearing a wetsuit. "Some guy was swimming and a shark came and attacked him vertically," witness Kris Linto, told Nine. "We heard a yell and turned around it looked like a car had landed in the water, a big splash then the shark was chomping at the body and there was blood everywhere." [Source: Reuters, February 16, 2022]

It was later determined the victim Simon Nellist, a dive instructor, was killed by a great white attacked while swimming. The International Shark Attack Files classified the attack as "provoked" because people nearby were fishing, and was criticized for doing so. Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History, which runs the files said that the “provoked” listing didn’t mean Nellist was responsible for his death. [Source: Alex Sundby, CBS News, May 6, 2023]

In a blog post, Naylor explained why the group classifies shark attacks at all. "Our criteria for classifying shark attacks are designed to filter the data collected so that we can better understand the natural behavior of the animals. Any activity that draws sharks into an area where they otherwise would not be, are excluded. We are interested in the influence of tides, temperature, salinity, moon phase, changing currents, seasonality, time of day and the effects that these parameters, both individually and in combination, have on different species of sharks," Naylor said.

At the time of the attack on Nellist, several people were fishing from the shore cliffs, Naylor told the Times of London. He said in his blog post that fishing is "known to attract sharks" even if bait or chum aren't used. According to BBC News, one man who had been fishing from the rocks witnessed the vicious attack. "It was terrible. I am shaking. I keep vomiting. It's very, very upsetting," the man told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Great White Shark Attack Leaves Australian Surfer 'Fighting For His Life' in 2023

In August 2023, An Australian surfer was hospitalized and was "fighting for his life" after being attacked by a great white shark attack in the morning at Port Macquarie in New South Wales. The victim was 44-year-old father of two, Toby Begg. Reports say the shark was around 4 meters (13 feet) long. Witnesses said he fought the shark for around "30 seconds" before trying to swim back to shore with the help of other surfers and beachgoers. 9News Sydney reported: The attack has sent the area into shock as surfers ran to help." [Source: Jade Eckardt, Surfer Magazine, August 25, 2023]

According to CNN and 9News, his legs got the worst of the attack. Luckily, an ER doctor was also surfing and helped attend to Begg's injuries until paramedics arrived and airlifted him to the hospital. “[He is in] a serious condition with life threatening injuries, sustained from the lower leg injuries, and also significant blood loss,” said NSW Police Chief Inspector Martin Burke. “I have never seen anything like it. His foot ripped off and basically, he was bleeding everywhere,” said an unnamed teenager, CNN reported.

According to 9News, safety measures including SMART drumlines, which "intercept sharks beyond the surf," are installed at the beach. "This great white wasn't tagged and managed to slip right through those safety measures," said reporter James Wilson. According to the Australian Shark Incident Database, there were 10 shark encounters in New South Wales in 2022, resulting in seven injuries and one death, CNN reported.

Man Dies after Shark Attack at Sydney Beach in September 2025

In September 2025, a 57-year-old man, was attacked and killed by a shark while surfing in the morning with friends at Long Reef Beach north of Sydney. It's the first such incident in the area in more than 3½ years, which in turn was the first incident since 1963.

Police superintendent John Duncan said the experienced surfer was pulled from the water but had lost too much blood and died. “He lost a number of limbs.” Duncan said. “His colleagues managed to make it back to the beach safely and a short time later his body was found floating in the surf and a couple of other people went out and recovered it. We understand he leaves behind a wife and a young daughter.” [Source: Reuters Videos, September 6, 2025]

The beach was closed. There people expressed shock. One surfer said: "I mean I've surfed all over the world - Africa, some of the ‘sharkiest’ places but no matter what it's still a risk that we all accept and absolutely tragic. I mean there's just no other way to look at it I mean it's just random bad luck I think."

Authorities aren't yet sure what species of shark was responsible for this attack. Lifeguards on jetskis were monitoring the beaches for the shark, the Northern Beaches Council said. Investigators recovered two sections of surfboard for examination. AP News quoted local surfer Bill Sakula as saying, “It’s going to send shockwaves through the community. Everyone is going to be a little bit nervous for a while.” [Source: Wyatt Williams Weather Channel, September 7, 2025]

Image Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Mostly National Geographic articles. Also the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Natural History magazine, Discover magazine, Times of London, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated September 2025