The potential perils of visiting Australia’s wilderness areas has once again been brought into the spotlight by the death of a man in Brisbane Water National Park after he fell from a waterfall yesterday.
The 23-year-old was at Somersby Falls in the park on the New South Wales central coast when he fell approximately 10 metres. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the man landed on the rocks below the falls, sustaining severe injuries in what police believe was a tragic accident.
“Upon arriving at the scene, police and ambulance paramedics attended to the man, however he was pronounced dead at the scene,” police said.
Distraught family members comforted each other in a nearby car park. The incident is not considered to be suspicious.
The SMH reports that Somersby Falls is a popular picnic spot, surrounded by thick rainforest. A 500m return walking track from the picnic area winds around the top and bottom waterfalls.
The man’s death is the latest in a long line of incidents in Australian national parks. Already this year, a number of people have been injured when ‘freak’ waves have crashed over rocks at the Figure 8 pools in Sydney’s Royal National Park.
*How can safety be improved in Australia’s wilderness areas? Comment below.
Signs: No diving, submerged rocks.
When, I was a teenager we would had a dip in the rock pool at Natural Arch, Gold Coast, but people would dive and cause themselves spinal injuries/death. So, it was stopped.
Problem is young people jump of the Somerbsy Falls, did he jump or fall?
Unfortunately people will have accidents that lead to serious injury or death when undertaking recreational activities. The problem is that Governments will react by either banning people from areas of activity or fence them in so that there is no longer access to some of the most beautiful areas to swim and picnic. I’m over 60 and the places I used to go to that are no longer accessible is significant.We cannot legislate for silly behaviour. The logic of locking up places of recreation makes no sense. Put up signage by all means but leave recreational places available for the public to enjoy.