Thursday dawned bright and warm over the beaches of northern New South Wales. It was a perfect morning to enjoy sun, surf and sand. One young couple, tourists escaping the Swiss alpine autumn, couldn’t resist the temptation of a 6 a.m. swim at the remote Kylies Beach in Crowdy Bay National Park, a beautiful and rugged natural coastal haven, accessible only by dirt track.
The holidaymakers expected a refreshing dip in sun-dappled waves, and it now appears they took to the water to film dolphins with their underwater camera. Instead, death and tragedy found them. Without warning, the pair were attacked by a three-metre bull shark and savaged brutally before bystanders on the beach could rescue them.
The man, despite his own injuries, managed to fight off the shark and pull his partner out of the water, aided by bystanders who rushed in to help him, disregarding the risk to themselves. Others called emergency services for help. Sadly, nothing could be done for the young woman, who died at the scene. The man’s leg was horribly mutilated, but thanks to swift action by those good samaritans on the beach, the young man survived. He was airlifted to hospital in the city of Newcastle, north of Sydney, where he remains in a ‘serious but stable’ condition.
The sea is the shark’s territory, not ours
Bull sharks are real scourges of the sea. They thrive and breed in both salt and fresh water, in both the shallow and deep. They are aggressive and relentless in their pursuit of food and one of the few species of sharks known to attack humans. To swim in waters where bull sharks are known to be lurking is to risk death or grievous injury, especially when the water is murky and visibility limited. While police and wildlife authorities are investigating the attack, expert speculation is that the shark may have been hugging the New South Wales coastline anticipating the return south of the annual whale migration to the tropics, or the lure of large fishing baits.
The Kylies Beach attack comes not long after another fatal shark encounter off Sydney’s northern beaches in September, which took the life of 57-year-old surfer, Mercury Psillakis. ‘He knew the risks involved, he was aware that it was their territory and not his,’ Psillakis’s widow Maria told Australian TV in a tearful interview.
Whatever brought the shark to Kylies Beach, like Psillakis, those two Swiss tourists paid a grave price for their innocent intrusion into its domain. From the details emerging, if the couple indeed were attracted into the water by seeing a pod of dolphins, the shark was almost certainly also there for a dolphin takeaway breakfast.
And that’s the point. Man is an intruder in the shark’s world, not it in man’s. If we venture into the water from an Australian beach, even in well-attended and patrolled settings, Australians know that danger is always there, however low the chance of an encounter is. If you then venture into deeper water away from the beach and crowds, especially alone or in small groups, you do so carefully and at your own risk.
But even then, the actual occurrences of shark attacks remain low. You are more likely to get run over by a pensioner’s mobility scooter than get taken by a shark. The Australian Shark Incident Database compiles shark incidents dating back to 1791: in over 230 years, there have been less than 300 known fatal attacks, and just five so far in 2025. Some scientists suggest sharks are moving southwards down the Australian coastline to find cooler waters, and invariably attribute that to climate change. Looking at the most recent recorded incidents, however, there is one factor that occurs again and again: surfboard riding. Surfers go offshore into deeper water, invariably clad in black wetsuits which, to an undiscriminating shark, must make them look like a seal lunch.
Thursday’s tragic shark attack made headlines around the world, and yet again reinforced Australia’s reputation for having the deadliest wildlife in the world: sharks, crocodiles, snakes and spiders especially. The sensationalism and gruesomeness of shark attacks make it all too easy to overreact and blame the shark for acting naturally in its native environment. It’s understandable, but wrong.
Swimming and surfing from Australian beaches does not have to be a real-life remake of Jaws, and almost always isn’t. If you check for shark sightings in the area – there are a number of readily-accessible shark sighting apps – take sensible precautions. Always remember that while you are entering an environment belonging to sharks and other sea creatures, the chances of an encounter with a deadly shark are almost nil.
Nevertheless, in welcoming overseas visitors, like this ill-fated Swiss couple, Australians have an obligation to ensure they know the risks and know how to avoid them. We want them to enjoy our amazing beaches and coastal waters: if any lesson can be learnt from what happened at Kylies Beach this week, it’s that visitors to remote beaches, unfamiliar with Australian surf and Australian conditions, are made adequately aware and prepared for whatever may be in the water with them. Above all, no one should forget dead surfer Mercury Psilliakis’s widow’s message: that the sea is the shark’s territory, not ours.
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