A tranquil Australian coastal community was plunged into horror and grief in 1985 when a mother-of-four was brutally killed by a massive great white shark in a frenzied attack witnessed by her own family.
A Peaceful Sunday Turns to Tragedy
On a fateful Sunday in March 1985, the clear waters of Peake Bay in South Australia belied the terror that was about to unfold. Shirley Ann Durdin, a 33-year-old mother from Port Lincoln, was paddling and diving for scallops near Wiseman’s Beach. Her husband and her four young children—Jason, Tanya, Carla, and Sonya, all under twelve—watched from the shore.
Without warning, a colossal great white shark, estimated by eyewitnesses to be up to 20 feet (6 metres) long, attacked. The assault was so swift and violent that Shirley was effectively bitten in half. Her family could only watch in helpless horror from the beach. Her husband’s anguished cry, “She’s gone, she’s gone,” echoed the finality of the moment.
The Gruesome Aftermath and Community Response
The aftermath of the attack was as grim as the event itself. The only part of Shirley Ann Durdin’s body recovered was her headless torso, found floating in the bay. The brutality of the incident marked it as one of the most gruesome shark attacks in recorded history.
The local community reacted with a mix of mourning and determined action. The Port Lincoln Game Fishing Club, alongside abalone divers and concerned citizens from Tumby Bay, launched a large-scale hunt for the killer shark. A net placed in the area was later discovered bitten in two, and fish bait was scattered in an attempt to lure the predator.
Authorities issued public warnings against swimming, and police patrolled Wiseman's Beach. A spokesperson for the Port Lincoln Diving Club, Peter Hurrell, suggested the shark was likely “either injured or very old,” and had turned to human prey because it was too slow to catch its normal food. The consensus was clear: this was a rogue shark that needed to be destroyed to prevent another attack.
The Hunt and Lasting Legacy
The search for the great white proved difficult. Rough seas hampered initial efforts, and a three-and-a-half-hour patrol by a Fisheries Department boat found nothing. The search continued with State Emergency Service personnel and police scouring the Peake Bay area, but the shark was never found.
A memorial service for Shirley Ann Durdin was later held at the Port Lincoln Uniting Church. While Peake Bay remains a popular tourist destination, the tragedy of that March day in 1985 left an indelible scar on the community and serves as a sombre reminder of the raw power of nature.
