Dubious ‘honour’ for Waratah Bay

16 Mar

In the Sandy Point Newsletter of Spring 2023, we reported on a local mystery reaching back to almost a century in the past. It revolved around the discovery in 1929 of human bones at Shallow Inlet. That mystery was finally solved, almost a century later, in 2023. The skeleton was that of a swimmer who had drowned and disappeared in Waratah Bay in 1928. The identity of the poor man who had drowned was established in a coronial enquiry using a method called forensic genetic genealogy. It was a first for Victoria. (read the full story)

Now another historical mystery involving Waratah Bay has come to light, this one going back to 40 years ago. Part of this mystery appears to have been recently solved; but part will probably always be uncertain.

It concerns the claim of official records that the last known fatal shark attack in Victoria occurred here in Waratah Bay in 1987. Recently the timing of that attack has been disputed by a researcher at The Age. It is now accepted that it actually occurred the previous year, in 1986, as established by the discovery of reports in newspapers of the time - being literally a paper search of pre-digital media.

This date clarification may seem a bit academic and inconsequential. However, the discovery of the actual date supported the identification of the reported shark attack victim as missing windsurfer William Crouch from Western Australia. Reader alert - some of the following details are a bit grisly.

The following are the facts and suppositions about the death as reported in the media articles at the time, and as remembered by the local policeman at the time, Sgt Jim Lowe - reported in a recent article in The Age newspaper (referenced below).

William Crouch was 32 years old and believed to be a fit and experienced windsurfer. He was riding his windsurfer quite a distance from shore, over a kilometre off Waratah Bay, north-west of Wilson’s Prom. It was believed that he had set out from Walkerville South, intending to windsurf about 10 kilometres over to Sandy Point or perhaps to Tidal River.

When his body was found some days later he was out of the windsurfer harness suggesting that he may have already come to grief and been in the water at the time of the attack. The windsurfer gear was washed up later, and was undamaged. The victim however had massive injuries that were attributed to a shark attack taking one arm and part of the torso.

What is not known, and most likely never will be known, is whether this shark attack in 1986 was the cause of the fatality, or whether the victim had already drowned. Regardless, it is still on official records that Waratah Bay is the place of the last fatal shark attack in Victoria.