Historical reference record — not independently verified
Shark incident at Broomfield Island 11 Miles From Heron Island On The Great Barrier Reef Queensland Australia — September 26, 1966
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A historical reference describes an event at Broomfield Island 11 Miles From Heron Island On The Great Barrier Reef Queensland Australia in 1966-09-26. Recorded activity: Free diving while carrying a speargun. Classification: Unprovoked. Outcome: Non-fatal.
Original reference details
- Location recorded in the historical reference: Broomfield Island 11 Miles From Heron Island On The Great Barrier Reef Queensland Australia.
- Date: 1966-09-26.
- Activity: Free diving while carrying a speargun.
- Classification: Unprovoked.
- Outcome: Non-fatal.
Source limitations and unresolved differences
- 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.
- The supplied source lists 1966-09-27; the existing reviewed date is retained pending case-level reconciliation.
Fact panel
- Date
- September 26, 1966
- Date precision
- Exact
- Location
- Broomfield Island 11 Miles From Heron Island On The Great Barrier Reef Queensland Australia
- Country
- Australia
- Activity
- Free diving while carrying a speargun
- Incident classification
- Unprovoked
- Area / state
- Queensland
- Person / vessel
- Barry Dawson
- Age
- 32
- Sex
- M
- Time
- 16h45
- Outcome
- Non-fatal
- Species
- Bronze whaler
- Species confidence
- Reported
- Coordinate precision
- Region
Incident location
Broomfield Island, 11 miles from Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef, 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.