Recent tragedies have triggered calls for more action on safety,but more warning signs alone are unlikely to be enough to keep people out of dangerous waters.
The families of the four people who died in Victoria’s worst drowning tragedy in almost 20 years say the huge loss has “left a void” in their lives.
Distraught relatives and friends of the deceased gathered in the car park near the scene of the tragedy on Wednesday evening.
Adults,not children,must be the focus of Australia’s water safety messaging,experts have warned,as more Australians visit unpatrolled locations.
Two drowned at beaches along the Bass Coast,while a body was retrieved by water police in South Gippsland. Another man was found dead in a Melbourne creek.
The revelation that most children cannot swim well enough to save themselves must be recognised as a matter of life and death by governments.
Shane Gould says forced immersion – dunking – of children in swimming classes can cause a lifelong fear of the water and undermine swimming skills.
Emergency services were called to reports of a man “struggling in rough water” in Nethercote,near Eden. The 53-year-old could not be revived.
Police have confirmed the two children who died in the Swan River on New Year’s Eve were aged four and six years old and from two separate families.
A teenager has died following a shark attack off South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.
The two-year-old girl died after she was pulled from a backyard pool in northern NSW. Police have also suspended the search for a teenager swept out to sea on the South Coast.