Coastal Bravery Awards: West Australians awarded for saving lives in swimming rescues by Surf Life Saving WA

A woman who braved the same waters as a great white shark after it had just attacked a swimmer is among a select group of West Australians recognised for their acts of bravery. Surf Life Saving WA honoured 31 heroes at the annual Coastal Bravery Awards on Friday for their extraordinary courage. They included West Aussies as young as 12 risking their own lives to save others from drowning in dangerous conditions. “These recipients are now members of a very exclusive club. Not many people have the right attributes to become one but you have that innate knowledge of assessing a crises and bringing them to action to rescue someone,” former award recipient Joanne Lucas said. “This is an amazing group of people we have here. You are an inspiration to all of us here.” Cassandra Joses was handed a gold medallion for exceptional bravery for not thinking twice before jumping into the same waters as a three-metre great white shark after a woman was attacked. The young surf lifesaver was driving along Kelp Beds in Esperance when she was flagged down by a group to help Jacquelin Morley who had been floating on an inflatable ring some distance offshore. Seeing the 20-year-old surrounded by blood, Ms Jose immediately swam to rescue the woman, who was bitten on the torso, and brought her to shore. Ms Joses’ efforts helped save Ms Morley’s life. “When we got back to shore I yelled at her friend to get a towel and apply pressure,” she said. “Another local was driving and stopped to provide assistance and they lent their car and took her to hospital.” She said her experience at the surf lifesaving club helped her spring into action. “It was like the bystander effect, everyone was watching what’s happening thinking someone’s going to go in and I thought I’ll be that person,” she said. “If I didn’t have that life experience at the surf club I might’ve not known what to do.” Ewan Sayers, Hayden Sharpe, Lawson Thomas, and Tajh Fullgrabe were also honoured for their actions during a fatal shark attack at Port Beach in Fremantle. The teenagers were in two dinghies and immediately went to Paul Millachip’s aid when he was attacked by a 4.5m shark. They attempted to lend assistance and scare the shark away but eventually lost sight of the man. Despite witnessing a traumatic event the young men stayed to alert others to the danger, evacuated swimmers from the water, and called emergency services. Mr Thomas said they decided to do the right thing despite the scariness of the situation. “We were anchored up then a man on the beach shouted at us and we looked over and saw there was a stir up,” he said. “We drove over and obviously saw what was happening. We tried to help as much as we could but unfortunately we couldn’t save the man. “We warned all the people on the beach to get out.” Mr Fullgrabe said they were also calling emergency services at the same time. “We did the best we could, anybody would’ve done the same.” Mr Millachip’s wife said their actions were “amazing.” “Thank goodness no one else was injured, they could have potentially saved other lives,” she said. The teenagers all received silver medallions for their bravery. At only 13 years of age, Callum Foley and Brodie Lee went to the aid of a man drowning at Mullaloo. Out for a surf, screams alerted the teens to the man in distress. Paddling out to the exhausted man, they were able to drag him onto Brodie’s board, attempting to paddle him back to shore. Despite Brodie’s small board not being suitable for transporting a six-foot man who slipped from the board numerous times they made it back to shore safely. The Mullaloo surf life saving club members said they applied the skills they learnt at Nippers to help the man. “We were nervous but we’re trained in this so we knew what to do so we just went for it,” Mr Foley said. “We rescued him and then we went back out paddling to catch some more waves.” Following the rescue, the man stated that he had feared for his life and didn’t know what would have happened if the teenagers hadn’t come to his rescue. The pair received a bronze medallion for courage in the youth award. “It felt good because I’ve been in surf club since I was six years old so now I know it’s actually worth doing,” Mr Lee said. “All that work went into play.” Further gold medallions were given to Raymond Worrall, Stephen Junk, Dane Holdman, and David Macmahon.