When 29-yearold Lauren O’Neill took a sunset dip in the tranquil waters of Elizabeth Bay on the eastern edge of Sydney Harbour on January 29 this year, she was doing what has come naturally to Australians for more than 60,000 years: Cooling off after a hot day in our blue backyard and giving thanks for the incredible natural world on our doorstep.
Bull sharks have swum in our oceans for 450 million years and survived five mass extinctions. The one that bit Lauren that night was also doing what came naturally at that time of the day. It emerged from deeper water to find something good to eat closer to the surface, also giving thanks for the Sydney Harbour waters that today support over 580 species of marine life. The odds are less than one in four million that it will happen to you, but when shark attacks do happen – in the most famous harbour in the world no less – all Australians go on red alert.
“Sharks frighten us and fascinate us,” says marine scientist Dr Amy Smoothey. “They have come to represent our fear of the unknown. Because the ocean is so vast and beautiful and the medium of water is so foreign to us, humans are driven to explore and understand it.” And fear it.
The shark that attacked Lauren charged towards her at up to 40kph and bit into her leg with a bite force of 18 tons per square inch. With
