Man in 20s dies in popular Royal National Park swimming hole

A man in his 20s has died after being pulled unresponsive from a popular swimming hole in NSW’s Royal National Park, as a campaign designed to prevent drownings is set to expand nationally.

Emergency services were called on Monday afternoon to reports of a drowning at Winifred Falls, a waterfall near a well-known hiking trail about 30 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD. The man, who was treated at the scene by paramedics, could not be revived.

A man died in the Royal National Park after being pulled unresponsive from a swimming hole on Monday.Credit: Nine News

It comes as Governor-General Sam Mostyn has thrown her support behind the Float to Survive campaign of Bondi’s Bruce “Hoppo” Hopkins, saying it typified the kindness and care she had pledged to foster in her term.

Mostyn’s backing coincided with the announcement that Float to Survive’s message will go national with $300,000 in new total financial support over three years from Shark Island Productions and The Pool film.

Attending a demonstration at Bondi Beach on Friday, Mostyn said she was part of a generation where every child learnt to swim, competed in school swimming carnivals and spent their holidays near the water.

Lifeguard Bruce “Hoppo” Hopkins tells Governor-General Sam Mostyn about how to survive a rip.Credit: Janie Barrett

“There are now millions of Australians who were born elsewhere who have never had that experience,” she said.

A quarter of the 323 people who fatally drowned between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, were born overseas. The National Drowning Report 2024 estimated those born overseas represented 34 per cent of total deaths in recent years.

The Winifred Falls death has drawn attention to rivers and creeks, the second-highest drowning location, accounting for 25 per cent of incidents in 2023-24, an 11 per cent increase on the 10-year average. Men make up almost all river and creek drowning deaths, which are the most common kind of fatal drowning among men aged 25 to 34. The report also found those who drowned at creeks tended to come from more disadvantaged areas.

Mostyn said swimming was part of her life. Her mother, raising three girls in Adelaide while her father served in Vietnam, had been terrified they would drown so they learnt to swim from Bill Renfrey at his pool in Henley where he taught private lessons.

“I can absolutely float,” she said. “But that’s not the experience of people who come to Australia as migrants or refugees, who are often getting into the water for the first time and have none of those basic skills.

“Here is a program that doesn’t expect those communities to learn how to be great swimmers. But teaching basic floating, and how not to panic, can save a life. That’s an extraordinary addition to our safety prevention strategy.”

Chase Hardaker, Anna Christowski and Bruce Hopkins at Bondi Beach with Governor-General Sam Mostyn.Credit: Janie Barrett

Mostyn said the increase in drowning incidents was a tragedy “we should all care about”.

When Mostyn was sworn in as governor-general, she said these testing times called for an unstinting focus on kindness, care and respect. Care could be an uplifting force, she said then.

Hoppo, she said, had come up “with a caring program that has kindness at its centre”.

Anna Christowski, 24, from Float to Survive, and Chase Hardaker, 23, a Bondi lifeguard, showed Mostyn how to survive a rip by floating through rough surf until they reached safety.

Can you meet these benchmarks?

National benchmarks recommend that by the age of 12 years a child can swim continuously for at least 50 metres; float, scull or tread water for 2 minutes.

By 17 years they should be able to swim continuously for 400 metres; float, scull or tread water for 5 minutes.

Source: National Drowning Report 2024.

Float to Survive was founded by Hopkins, Waverley Council’s head lifeguard who features in the reality television show Bondi Rescue.

Piloted in the eastern suburbs, the campaign was expanded to western Sydney including Blacktown last year.

Hopkins said he hoped the message “float to survive” would become as memorable and pervasive as “slip slop slap” and “don’t drink and drive”.

It was a simple message that would work in any community, including those who swam in rivers, pools and at beaches, and would complement other campaigns.

The annual drowning report said swimming skills were going backwards to a point at which Australia was no longer a nation of swimmers.

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