Interactive map of 1,295 recorded shark incidents in Australia, 1791–2026. Filter by year, region, species, activity, outcome and season.
Every recorded shark incident in Australian waters from 1791 to the present, plotted at its own coordinates — 1,295 of them. Each point carries the date, the place, the species involved where it was identified, what the person was doing, and whether the encounter was fatal, injurious or harmless. Click any point for the full record, including the original wording used by the source database.
A built-in analysis panel recomputes as you filter: where incidents cluster along the coast, how outcomes differ by activity and by species, which season carries the most encounters, and how much of the record is classified as provoked. It answers the question you have filtered to, not a fixed one.
The map is paired with context about the animals themselves — which species are protected or threatened, why bull sharks turn up far up rivers, and why a third of this record involves people who were spearfishing, fishing or handling the animal. Incident counts have risen with beach participation and reporting, not with shark numbers.
Australian Shark-Incident Database, managed by Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Flinders University and the NSW Department of Primary Industries, used under CC BY 4.0. Place names derived from GeoNames. Published for education only — incident counts reflect reporting and beach use as much as shark behaviour, and are not a measure of personal risk.
GK Maps — Where Geography Meets Knowledge.