Historical reference record — not independently verified
Shark incident at Wreck Of Paddle Steamer Koputai 6 Km Off Bondi Beach New South Wales Australia — May 23, 1996
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A historical reference describes an event at Wreck Of Paddle Steamer Koputai 6 Km Off Bondi Beach New South Wales Australia in 1996-05-23. Recorded activity: Technical diving at a wreck. Classification: Questionable. Outcome: Fatal.
Original reference details
- Location recorded in the historical reference: Wreck Of Paddle Steamer Koputai 6 Km Off Bondi Beach New South Wales Australia.
- Date: 1996-05-23.
- Activity: Technical diving at a wreck.
- Classification: Questionable.
- Outcome: Fatal.
Source limitations and unresolved differences
- No shark species identification is supported by the retained evidence.
- Shark involvement was suspected in the historical record but was not conclusively established.
- 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 1996-05-24; the existing reviewed date is retained pending case-level reconciliation.
Fact panel
- Date
- May 23, 1996
- Date precision
- Exact
- Location
- Wreck Of Paddle Steamer Koputai 6 Km Off Bondi Beach New South Wales Australia
- Country
- Australia
- Activity
- Technical diving at a wreck
- Incident classification
- Questionable
- Area / state
- New South Wales
- Person / vessel
- Pat Bowring
- Age
- 45.0
- Sex
- M
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Species
- Shark involvement prior to death suspected but not confirmed
- Species confidence
- Reported
- Coordinate precision
- Region
Incident location
Wreck of paddle steamer, Koputai, 6 km off Bondi Beach, New South Wales, Australia
Approximate area: New South Wales
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 New South Wales 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.