Murray Adams has been identified as the local teacher attacked by a shark at a popular Elliston beach

An SA teacher who was attacked by a shark at a popular surfing beach, leaving him with “massive, very deep” bite marks on his lower body, is making a remarkable recovery.

The Victorian man who saved a local teacher after he was bitten by a shark at a popular Elliston surfing spot has spoken of his shock at the size of the bite marks.

Murray Adams, 64, was surfing a few hundred metres off the coastline when the shark attacked him about 1pm on Tuesday.

Despite bleeding heavily, Mr Adams, with assistance from others, made his way to the local Elliston Hospital and was later flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where he remains in a stable condition.

The District Council of Elliston, reeling from the second attack on a community member in eight months, is now calling for more action to reduce the threats posed by sharks in the area.

Murray Adams, 64, was attacked at Blacks at Elliston on Tuesday. Picture: 7NEWS

Surfer Troy Outtram was holidaying in Elliston when he witnessed Murray Adams getting attacked by a shark. Picture: Troy Outtram

Victorian surfer Troy Outtram, 46, was the only other person out in the water at the time of the attack and helped Mr Adams to safety.

“All of a sudden he gets to the end of the wave and started screaming: ‘shark, shark’, he said.

“He was worried about me … I paddled into the cliffs because that’s a shallow spot (and) that’s where he was going.

Mr Adams’ board was significantly damaged during the attack. Picture: Swellnet

“He looked at me and said ‘bloody hell that was pretty exciting’.”

Mr Outtram said he initially noticed a bite mark on Mr Adams’ surfboard before he saw the injuries.

“I couldn’t believe the size of the bite mark,” he said.

The cliffs that Murray Adams climbed after he was attacked by a shark. Picture: Troy Outtram

The path Murray Adams walked after he was bitten by a shark. Picture: Troy Outtram

“He turned around and had massive bite marks on his arse, the back of his leg and back.

“You were seeing lots of things you shouldn’t see … they were very deep cuts.”

The dedicated surfer, who was on holiday in Elliston at the time, said the pair then had a challenging climb up a cliff face to safety.

“Murray just started rock climbing … I was worried he’d fall back,” he said.

“I could barely get up because I was so tired and I hadn’t been bitten by a shark.

“There was just blood everywhere, he was losing a lot of blood … he could’ve just bled out.

“He was very gung-ho about it … he was running on adrenaline.”

The Elliston community remains in shock after its second shark attack in eight months - both involving schoolteachers. Incredibly, 64-year-old Murray Adams survived the attack with witnesses describing his actions as heroic. @kimberleypratt_#7NEWSpic.twitter.com/F3lQVVXFum

— 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) January 10, 2024

Mr Outtram said once in the carpark they met two other people who offered to call an ambulance, but Murray said driving would be faster.

“He jumped in the front seat of his car and the other guy drove,” he said.

“There was so much blood in the front seat where he was sitting.

“Apparently he was joking in the car ride.”

Mr Adams is a dedicated and much-loved teacher at Elliston Area School where he teaches maths.

Elliston Area School principal Chad Fleming described Mr Adams as a much-loved member of staff.

“The kids love him,” he said.

Mr Fleming said it was a shock getting a call on Tuesday afternoon informing him of the attack less than a year after fellow teacher at the school Simon Baccanello, 46, was killed by a shark at Walkers Rock beach.

“It’s unfortunate it’s another staff member but we’re fortunate with the outcome this time,” he said.

“Whenever there’s an attack it impacts the community deeply.

“We’re very happy that he’s making a recovery.”

The local principal said he’s been in communication with Mr Adams who was “joking around” and said he was in a “jovial state”.

“We wish Mr Adams all the best for his recovery,” he said.

Murray Adams arrived in Adelaide after 7pm on Tuesday evening. Picture: Keryn Stevens

District Council of Elliston Mayor Andrew McLeod was relived when he heard the news that Mr Adams, who he said was “a well-respected member of the community”, was expected to make a full recovery.

“For this we are grateful to the staff at the Elliston Hospital, SA Health and Emergency Services,” he said.

“This is the second great white shark attack on a member of our community, and the third on the Eyre Peninsula within the last 8 months.

“These attacks are extremely confronting and have affected the wellbeing of our community in one-way or another.”

Mr McLeod said that the recent attack had caused the community to “relive the tragedy” of the attacks on Simon Baccanello, Todd Gendle and Khai Cowley

He said council believed changes needed to be made to prevent great white shark attacks.

“Council acknowledges that the state government has increased shark patrols to the metropolitan beaches, however, this is not helping regional communities where most attacks are occurring,” he said.

“We welcome the state government working with the council to implement a shark incident mitigation strategy over the coming months to prevent these attacks moving forward.”

An Elliston teacher was flown to the RAH after being mauled by a shark. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Elliston Bakery owner Pim Tree said everyone in the community would be rallying around Mr Adams as he recovered from the attack that included injuries to the upper leg.

“He’s really nice, all the kids like him … he taught my daughter too,” she said.

“Everyone’s really sad, I’m sad too.”

Ms Tree, who has owned the local bakery for 10 years, said it was shocking that a second teacher from the local school had been attacked by a shark in just one year.

“Everyone’s really scared … I tell my daughter not to go in the water,” she said.

An experienced surfer, who didn’t want to be named but has been frequenting the Elliston area for 50 years, said the frequency of attacks in the last year, two of which were at Elliston, have frightened local surfers.

“People are really starting to freak out … there have been so many attacks,” he said.

“People like me are thinking maybe we shouldn’t be surfing at Elliston anymore.

“I’m just thankful nothing’s happened to me.”

Education Minister Blair Boyer said he had reached out to the victim’s wife, who is also a teacher, after the man was flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for surgery on Tuesday evening.

Mr Boyer said the government was “watching the situation closely” but had no plans to keep schoolchildren out of the water.

Last year, the Education Department reversed a hasty decision to ban ocean-based surfing and swimming sessions in the wake of a shark attack at Port Noarlunga, instead bringing forward ocean safety measures.

“It was obviously a premature decision to stop those swimming lessons that occurred in the ocean, we took that opportunity to do a review and we involved the experts in that review and a decision was made that it was safe to recommence those,” Mr Boyer said.

Mr Outtram said locals placed a sign near the beach after the attack. Picture: Swellnet

“There’s no suggestion or plans that we will be preventing those in-ocean activities but we will certainly watch the situation as closely as we can.”

Mr Boyer recognised that the attacks would spark concern within beachside communities but reassured that the state government was “monitoring the situation”.

“We had taken action before Christmas around bringing shark patrols to metropolitan beaches to offer as much certainty as we can,” he said.

“It’s difficult to do that in a state such as ours where we have as much coastline as Victoria and NSW combined, but we’ll make sure that we continue to take advice from the experts.”

Mr Boyer said the 64-year-old victim’s wife had been buoyed by the support of the state and the man was recovering from surgery.

“He had only just come out of surgery (when I spoke to his wife), which she said had gone well,” Mr Boyer said.

“I passed on my thoughts to her and her husband as well to say that all of SA is thinking of him.

“It’s a shocking incident that you just don’t see coming … next minute you find yourself being flown to the Royal Adelaide to have surgery.

“She was very pleased to hear that we were all thinking of her and her husband.

“It’s an incredibly scary thing to go through.”

District Council of Elliston councillor Fiona Matthews said the town was still coming to terms with the death of local teacher Simon Baccanello, 46, who was killed by a shark while surfing at Walkers Rock beach last May.

“It’s still pretty fresh for everyone, pretty raw, and this is just going to bring back memories,” Ms Matthews said.

The attack comes just over a week after 15-year-old Khai Cowley was killed by a shark at Ethel Wreck on the Yorke Peninsula.

Originally published as Murray Adams has been identified as the local teacher attacked by a shark at a popular Elliston beach