More than 2,000 heartbroken members of a quiet beachside community have gathered for a vigil in south-east Queensland to remember a much-loved shark attack victim.
Charlize Zmuda, 17, was swimming off Woorim beach on Monday afternoon when she was attacked, suffering injuries to her upper body and dying soon after being pulled from the water.
On Tuesday night parents hugged their children tight and school students embraced tearfully as they arrived at the beach at Bribie Island, north of Brisbane, with floral tributes.
“Just awful,” one mother said. “An unspeakable tragedy.
“I hugged my boys as soon as I heard the news. The whole community is shellshocked.”
A student in the same year group as Charlize said he was struggling to believe it was real.
Charlize’s father, Steven Zmuda, addressed the crowd from within a circle that formed on the beach, before laying the first of many candles.
Only the ocean waves could be heard as the big crowd stood silently.
Despite the tragedy Zmuda has urged Australians to not be afraid of the ocean.
“Something that my wife and I wanted to say is we don’t want people to stop coming to the beach and enjoying our beach,” he told reporters.
“It’s a big part of our lives.”
The grieving father fondly remembered his daughter’s passion for the ocean, joining the local lifesaving club aged eight.
“She was a dedicated lifesaver who wanted to only do the best for our club and for all the people in our community,” he said through tears in an interview with the ABC.
Charlize was vice-captain of her lifesaving patrol and competed in the inflatable rescue boat world championships in 2024, her family said.
She was also a talented musician.
“She could hear a piece of music and then pick up and play it at the drop of a heartbeat,” her father said. “To have all that talent taken away right now that kills me.”
Charlize’s family earlier issued a statement saying she was a shining light who touched everyone she met.
“She loved the beach and it truly was her happiest place on earth,” it read.
“She loved four-wheel-driving up the beach and anyone who went with her knew they would have to stop and pick up every piece of rubbish she saw along the way.
“Please focus on the incredible life she lived and not the awful way she died.”
The Surf Life Saving Queensland chief executive, Dave Whimpey, also spoke to the ABC at Bribie Island on Tuesday.
He said Charlize’s death has “had a huge impact on the lifesaving community right around Australia”.
“Of course, these incidents do happen,” Whimpey said. “They’re quite rare, but when it does happen to a lifesaver, a young girl that had everything to live for, doing what she loved … She was a highly skilled lifesaver and she spent her time looking after Queenslanders.”
Her Bribie Island swimming club said on Facebook: “It’s the kind of heartbreak that shakes the very foundation of who we are, leaving us reeling in disbelief, grief and sorrow beyond words.
“Her kindness, her laughter, her strength – these are all gifts she has left behind and they will live on in all who knew and loved her.”
The principal of her Caboolture college, Michael Connolly, said Charlize had served the school and local communities with distinction.
Queensland’s premier, David Crisafulli, described Charlize’s death as an “unimaginable tragedy”.
“To think that a young girl doing what she loves could have her life taken away is really, really troubling,” he said.
It is the second fatal shark attack in Queensland this summer, with the 40-year-old chaplain Luke Walford killed on 29 December.
In the past decade there has been an average of 20 shark incidents nationwide every year, according to the Australian Shark-Incident Database.
The University of the Sunshine Coast shark ecologist Dr Bonnie Holmes said it was not yet clear what kind of animal had carried out the attack but it was most likely a bull shark.
A university program had tagged 100 bull sharks in the area in the last 18 months and never picked up the same animal twice, she said, suggesting there were “many, many more”.
“We’re at the height of summer and so these tropical sharks, like bull sharks and tiger sharks, are very active,” Holmes said.
She said it was not clear why there had been so many serious attacks this season, though there is no evidence to blame an increased population.
She said she would be happy to swim at Woorim beach this afternoon.
“Yes, absolutely,” she said. “It’s just about having a healthy respect for the environment that you’re going into.
“It’s incredibly rare and just really incredibly unlucky.”
According to Queensland’s primary industries department, shark control measures, including drum lines and drone surveillance, are in use at Woorim.
Holmes said drum lines were not effective in preventing shark attacks and hoped Queensland would follow the lead of New South Wales by creating an app that gives swimmers a real-time alert about the presence of a tagged shark.
“People have to come first,” Crisafulli said on Tuesday. “The safety of humans always has to come before the welfare of a shark.”. He rejected the suggestion that drum lines did not work.
Asked if the government would consider a shark cull, he said the minister for primary industries would examine the idea, along with others, while considering a KPMG review of the state’s shark control program, completed last year.
“First and foremost, we have to do everything we can to keep people safe, and that’s a non-negotiable for me,” he said.
Peter Flannery, the Moreton Bay city mayor, expressed sympathy for Charlize’s family and said it would be a difficult time for the tight-knit Bribie Island community.
The local state MP, Ariana Doolan, said she was “deeply saddened to learn of the tragic incident”.
“Authorities are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident and it’s important that these processes take course,” she said.
“In the meantime we ask for respect and privacy for the family during this incredibly difficult time.”
It is understood that Surf Life Saving Queensland members were on duty at Woorim beach at the time of the attack and they assisted paramedics.
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
