Fatal shark attack Gold Coast: Tragic 1958 death of Peter Gerard Spronk
Surfers Paradise Beach was the location of the last fatal shark attack in the oceans of the Gold Coast until 2020. This is the tragic story of how a group of heroic beachgoers put their lives on the line.
Gold Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
SURFERS Paradise is home to one of the Gold Coast’s oldest surf clubs, just metres from one of the nation’s most famous beaches.
It was revealed this week that the club could be on the move, with a second surf club built in the suburb’s north near Narrowneck.
The idea of an absolute beachfront clubhouse comes more than 90 years after the club was founded and its first home built on the sand itself.
The surf lifesaving movement began in Sydney in 1907 and came to the Gold Coast nearly a decade later when the Kirra Surf Lifesaving club was founded in 1916.
By the early 1920s, the beachside suburb of Elston had become a popular destination for tourists and locals and was the location where businessman Jim Cavill bought land and opened his famous Surfers Paradise Hotel.
The first lifesaving reel was placed on the beach in 1921 but it was four years later in 1925 when the club was founded.
Cavill and local businessman Charlie Walsh were major figures in the creation of the club.
As part of the Royal Lifesaving Society, the club was officially created to bring tourists to the area and make the beach safe, though Cavill also used it as part of his campaign to have the area renamed Surfers Paradise.
The club was formed after a meeting at Cavill’s hotel on the site of what is now the Paradise Centre when the publican convinced locals the beach needed patrolling in order to attract large crowds.
A small wooden shelter on the northern side of Cavill Avenue was the first clubhouse, and in March 1928 the club was recognised by the Royal Life Saving Society of Queensland.
By 1929 the club was known as the Surfers Paradise Life Saving Club, and during the pre-war years the club made a name for itself under the presidency of Walsh.
The old wooden building burnt to the ground in 1936, was rebuilt in 1937, replaced in 1961 and by 1980 had moved to its present location.
The club is proud of its record for never having lost a swimmer between the flags, but its patrol waters were the site of the city’s last known fatal shark attack at a Gold Coast beach.
The last person to die on the Gold Coast from a shark attack was Brisbane man Peter Gerard Spronk on Sunday, November 23, 1958.
He was mauled by a shark, 250m off Surfers Paradise beach and died of his injuries despite the best efforts of a team of lifesavers who rushed to his rescue.
Spronk, of Chelmer, Brisbane was dead when he was brought to shore by lifesavers Alan Bradford, Peter Brennan, Errol Tomkinson, Eddie Burnett and Peter Flint.
Journalist John Hay was on the beach and witnessed the incident, which he said began with the sound of a bell ringing.
“Suddenly I saw a dark shape hit him and lift him partly out of the wave.
“Then the poor fellow disappeared between waves but reappeared waving his arms but then he seemed to sink in the water.
“I did not see the shark again but I did see a demonstration of amazing courage by the lifesavers.”
Originally published as Fatal shark attack Gold Coast: Tragic 1958 death of Peter Gerard Spronk