Shark attacks in Australia
The Australian Shark Attack File has recorded that since 1791 there have been 639 shark attacks in Australia with 190 of them being fatal.
Four species of sharks account for the vast majority of fatal attacks on humans: the bull shark, tiger shark, oceanic whitetip shark and the great white shark.
Shark netting
Since shark netting began in 1937, the number of deaths from sharks on beaches has been reduced in New South Wales, with only one fatal attack on a netted beach during that time. In Queensland there has not been a fatal attack on a netted beach since nets were introduced in the 1960s.Precautions against attacks
The Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts states precautions which can be taken to reduce the risk of shark attacks. These include avoiding swimming far from the shore, at the mouth of a river or on drop-offs to deeper water; avoiding swimming in dirty water, alone or with domestic animals, near people fishing, or at dusk or night; and to leave the water if schools of fish behave erratically or group in large numbers. The Australian Institute of Marine Science also states many of these and other precautions including not wearing jewelry or reflective clothing while swimming, and not swimming with any bleeding wounds.Non-fatal attacks
| Name, age | Date | Species | Location; Comments |
| Lucas Arnott, 10 | July 17, 2020 | Great white shark | Five km offshore from Stanley, Tasmania A ten year old boy was grabbed by a shark and pulled into the water from a 6m fishing boat. The boy’s father jumped into the water and retrieved the child, who suffered lacerations to his arm and cuts to his head and chest. Appears the child’s lifejacket protected the boy, which was shredded. |
| Wil Schroeter, 59 | January 17, 2020 | Wil Schroeter, a 59 year old Father of 2, from Albion Park, bitten around the foot while surfing at Windang Beach. | |
| Chris Blowes, 26 | April 25, 2015 | Great white shark | Blowes and friends were surfing at Fishery Bay, 35kms from Port Lincoln in South Australia when a 6m Great White attacked. Chris' life was saved when his friends wrapped a leg rope as a tourniquet until Blowes was air lifted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He lost his left leg and was clinically dead but has made a remarkable recovery. |
| Paddy Trumbull, 60 | February 13, 2010 | Trumbull, a 60-year-old grandmother from Sydney, survived a shark attack off northeastern Australia. She suffered severe lacerations to her buttocks and lost several pints of blood in the attack, which took place on the afternoon of Saturday, February 13, 2010, while she and her husband were snorkeling off Dent Island in Queensland. | |
| Dirk Avery, 52, | November 2000 | Great white shark | Dirk Avery, a friend of Ken Crew, was badly wounded by his legs when he tried to defend him from the shark. Ken Crew lost his leg and died. |
| Rodney Fox, 23 | December 1963 | Great white shark | Attacked while spearfishing and badly bitten around the chest and arm and survived. |
| Albert Pride, 20 | February 1951 | Lake Illawarra, fought off an attacking shark with a penknife | |
| Oates, youth | December 1929 | Currumbin, punched and kicked shark and fought it off |