Historical reference record — not independently verified
Shark incident at Rubbish Dump Creek Mackay Queensland Australia — December 14, 1939
Original historical summary
The original reference is retained below. Supplementary source details appear in the fact panel; protected facts and unresolved differences remain unchanged.
A historical reference describes an event at Rubbish Dump Creek Mackay Queensland Australia in 1939-12-14. Recorded activity: Swimming. Classification: Unprovoked. Outcome: Fatal.
Original reference details
- Location recorded in the historical reference: Rubbish Dump Creek Mackay Queensland Australia.
- Date: 1939-12-14.
- Activity: Swimming.
- Classification: Unprovoked.
- Outcome: Fatal.
Source limitations and unresolved differences
- Historical species wording: Shark reportedly landed after the event. It does not establish a single species.
- This restoration uses a supplied historical summary citing the general GSAF incident log, not a case-level primary document. It has not been independently verified.
Fact panel
- Date
- December 14, 1939
- Date precision
- Exact
- Location
- Rubbish Dump Creek Mackay Queensland Australia
- Country
- Australia
- Activity
- Swimming
- Incident classification
- Unprovoked
- Area / state
- Queensland
- Person / vessel
- Frank Gurran
- Age
- 20.0
- Sex
- M
- Time
- 12h15
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Species
- 2.6 m [8.5'] shark landed 2 hours later
- Species confidence
- Reported
- Coordinate precision
- Region
Incident location
Rubbish Dump Creek, Mackay, Queensland, Australia
Approximate area: Queensland
The marker represents the named area, not the exact incident site.
The interactive map loads when it comes into view. Incident details remain available as text.
Location precision: Approximate area
Representative map position for Queensland from Natural Earth. This marks the general area, not the exact incident site. This is historical location context, not live shark tracking or a measure of risk.
Sources and verification
- Historical incident log (general reference) — Global Shark Attack FileSupports: General reference cited by the supplied historical summary; not independently checked against a case-level record.
- GSAF-derived structured public mirror (sascha-pst/bullish_on_sharks/global_shark_attacks.csv) — github.comSupports: Supplementary historical fields; existing reviewed facts retained
Shark incident records can change as investigations develop. This page shows the current verification status and was last restored from supplied historical reference material on 2026-09-04.
Historical facts retain the provenance and uncertainty of the cited references. Source timestamps record when the supplied material was imported, not an independent source retrieval or verification.
Supplementary content updated: 2026-09-24. This does not change the original verification status or review date.