Face of Nation : His sister was one of just a few people attacked by sharks in Australian waters each year, but South Australian man Mitch Williams counts himself lucky. The family was enjoying an afternoon on Lady Bay at Normanville, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, when 15-year-old Sarah was knocked out of her kayak by a 4.5-metre white pointer shark. She was thrown into the air then disappeared with the shark below the surface of the water.
Mr Williams, 24, and his father Chris – who have both been announced awardees of a bravery commendation – saw the attack from their four-metre dinghy about 30 metres away and sprung into action.
“Time kind of slows down in those situations,” he said of the October 2017 incident. “Seeing the attack take place, my father pulled the chord (on the dinghy) and it started on the first go, which never happens.
“That was a stroke of luck and then we sort of angled in her direction.” Sarah emerged from the water and clambered onto the centre of the damaged kayak, with half her body still in the water, while the shark again knocked the vessel.
“I’d never heard someone scream like that before,” Mr Williams said.”People scream when they’re in pain but it’s like a ‘I’m going to die’ sort of scream. Real visceral.”
As his father manoeuvred the small aluminium boat in Sarah’s direction, Mr Williams knelt down and pulled Sarah over the shark and onto the boat. She sustained only minor injuries including bruising – a lucky escape Mr Williams attributes to a number of favourable factors.
“It was unbelievable that it happened and, in a way, it was the perfect rescue,” he said. “We could have hit her too hard and knocked her back into the water or I could have missed her and not pulled her in. All went to plan.”
Following Sarah’s rescue, Mr Williams moved his boat to distract the shark, allowing two people on another nearby kayak to reach the shore safely.
The father and son, from Mount Compass, are among 74 Australian Bravery Award recipients being announced by Governor-General David Hurley on Monday. Mr Williams said while he’s honoured to receive the award, his actions were in no way extraordinary. “I feel kind of bad about accepting it, in a way,” he said.
