Timeline: shark attacks in Australia

16 Jul 2012, 12:00 am   -   Source: AAP
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Surfer Ben Linden has become the latest person to be fatally mauled by a shark in Australian waters. (AAP)

Surfer Ben Linden has become the latest person to be fatally mauled by a shark in Australian waters. (AAP)

State by state data on shark attacks in Australia in the last 10 years.

RECENT FATAL SHARK ATTACKS IN AUSTRALIA

*July 15, 2012: Surfer Ben Linden, 24, fatally mauled by a great white shark near Wedge Island, north of Perth.  

*April 1, 2012: Father-of-two Peter Kurmann, 32, taken by a four-metre white pointer shark after a morning dive with his brother.

*October 23, 2011: American George Thomas Wainwright, 32, died after a great white attacked him while scuba diving off Rottnest Island, WA. 

*October 10, 2011: Perth businessman Bryn Martin, 64, disappeared while swimming off Cottesloe Beach. His shredded swimming costume is later found.

*September 4, 2011: A 21-year-old surfer died in Bunker Bay, Western Australia, after his body was ripped in half by a shark.

* February 17, 2011: Abalone diver Peter Clarkson, 50, was killed by two sharks while surfacing near Coffin Bay, South Australia.

* August 17, 2010: Nick Edwards, 31, bled to death after being attacked while surfing in Gracetown near Perth.

* December 27, 2008:  Fisherman Brian Guest, 51, was taken by a shark when he was snorkelling at Port Kennedy in Perth's south.

* April 8, 2008: A 16-year-old boy from Wollongbar killed by a shark while bodyboarding off Ballina's Lighthouse Beach on the NSW north coast.

* January 7, 2006: Sarah Kate Whiley, 21, mauled by up to three bull sharks while swimming in waist-deep water with friends at Amity Point, off south-east Queensland's North Stradbroke Island.

* August 24, 2005: Marine biologist Jarrod Stehbens, 23, taken by a shark, believed to be a white pointer, while diving for cuttlefish eggs with colleagues off Adelaide's Glenelg Beach.

* March 19, 2005: Geoffrey Brazier, 26, attacked by a six-metre shark, believed to be a great white, as he snorkelled near the Abrolhos Islands, off Geraldton, 500km north of Perth.

* December 16, 2004: Nick Peterson, 18, killed instantly when attacked by a great white shark as he was towed behind a boat on a surfboard 300 metres off Adelaide's popular metropolitan West Beach.

* December 11, 2004: Mark Thompson, 38, attacked by a shark while spear fishing with two friends at Opal Reef, about 75km from Cairns in north Queensland. He died from a cardiac arrest soon after the attack.

* July 10, 2004: Brad Smith, 29, attacked by two sharks, believed to be a great white and a large bronze whaler, as he surfed near Gracetown in Western Australia's south-west.

* February 8, 2003: Bob Purcell, 84, attacked by a 2.5 metre bull whaler while swimming in Burleigh Lake on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

* December 16, 2002: Beau Martin, 23, attacked while swimming in Miami Lake on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

* April 30, 2002: Scallop diver Paul Buckland, 23, dragged from a mate's arms by a six-metre white pointer while trying to get on board a boat in Smoky Bay in the Great Australian Bight, South Australia.

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Your Comments

Top of the food chain

John dusseldorp - from Margaret river, 3 months ago

We are the worlds number one predator it's about time we took on that roll. Look at your family an ask if you would trade one of there lives for all the great whites in the ocean ? Ifa breed of dogs bites us we remove the breed. Carnivores have been becoming extinct since time began to say the ecosystem would collapse is not true this world is not that fragile. The ocean is our playground part of our garden of Eden ,The meek shall inherit the earth can't see a great white in that picture ......

Mmmmmmm

Abbey - from Sydney , 7 months ago

Yea it is really sad that people die from these tragic things but it's not the sharks fault everyone knows that the beach is full of sharks so it's your risk to be honest so don't blam the sharks if they eat you. It's your fault for going in there if you don't want to get eaten buy the sharks go in a swimming pool or if your surfing go some where we're not many sharks go to or go to a beach that isn't so crowded because the more people that are there the more the sharks will come there. Thankyou

Know the risks

David - from Glen Iris, 10 months ago

If people don't want to be attacked by sharks, stay out of their territory. It's unfortunate that people die but if we enter the ocean, their home, that's what happens. Anyone who blames the sharks need to look at how pathetic and insignificant they are in the grand scheme of this planet and the universe. This world and its creatures don't exist to serve your needs or not kill you.

Perspective

Leroy - from Melbourne, 10 months ago

18 People died of shark attacks in Australian waters from 2002 - 2012 15319 People died in vehicle accidents on Australian Roads from 2002 - 2011 In that time 1904 of them died on roads only in WA. Leave the Shark, Ban the Car.

Dr

xander - from google it, 10 months ago

menot - from Hong Kong, 3 days ago What is the purpose of these Great Whites?" They are an apex marine predator - the entire balance of life is supported by apex predators. Without them the ecosystem collapses, other species reach plague proportions - like Humboldt Squid - while others die off completely as the are outcompeted. Life is a balance, upset it and chaos ensues - and a species such as the great white - unchanged for millions of years - are lost forever.

Stay Out of the Water

Adrian - from Artarmon Sydney, 10 months ago

As sad as the death of a family member is, death by shark attack is statistically extremely low. Death from other circumstances is far more prevalent, eg drug, smoking and alcohol related deaths far out number those by sharks. Yet do we cry for a total ban on these, no we don't. Sharks, like so many other species are on the brink of extenction. People should simply stay out of known breeding and feeding grounds. It is people who should be banned from these areas, not the sharks.

Film Director

Peter Bloomfield - from Annandale, Sydney, 10 months ago

Don't hunt and kill sharks because surfers and divers get eaten... play golf.

Why?

Emenot - from Hong Kong, 10 months ago

What is the purpose of these Great Whites?

Age correction

Liz Akeley - from Adelaide, 2 years ago

For the record, my brother Peter Clarkson was 50, born August 16 1960

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