{"id":35263,"date":"2026-06-20T23:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T23:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/35263\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T23:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T23:50:09","slug":"community-reeling-from-shark-attack-returns-to-coogee-beach-for-swim-out-supporting-local-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/35263\/","title":{"rendered":"Community reeling from shark attack returns to Coogee Beach for swim-out supporting local mother"},"content":{"rendered":"

A community reeling from a shark attack at a Sydney beach which left a woman in critical condition is returning to the water for a swim-out to support the victim’s family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One week ago, Sydney mother Leah Stewart was swimming between the flags at Coogee Beach when she was mauled by a suspected white shark.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old remains in a critical condition, having undergone multiple surgeries since the June 13 \u00a0attack for bites across her arms and legs, and for lacerations and fractures throughout her body.<\/p>\n

One of her arms had to be amputated, the family said earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

\"leah<\/p>\n

Ms Stewart’s family says she has undergone multiple surgeries and has had one arm amputated. (Supplied: Stewart family)<\/p>\n

The swim is part of the local surf lifesaving club and Randwick City Council’s attempt to provide spaces for the community, including a gathering on Monday, where they can open up about their fears and get support to return to the water.<\/p>\n

‘A good cause’<\/p>\n

Mayor of Randwick City Council, Dylan Parker, said the event would provide a safe, supportive and community-focused environment for people wanting to get back in the ocean.<\/p>\n

“Unsurprisingly, the beaches have been a little bit quieter than you would expect,” Cr Parker said.<\/p>\n

“I’ll be going back in, as I’m sure the many hundreds, potentially thousands, will be at this community swim \u2014 doing so for a good cause, raising funds for Leah Stewart on the BBQ.”<\/p>\n

He said there would be surveillance drones, lifeguards on jet skis and inflatable rescue boats to provide reassurance to swimmers.<\/p>\n

Lifeline counsellors would also be present for those still feeling the impacts of the incident or wanting further support.<\/p>\n

In an emergency measure following the tragedy, Surf Life Saving NSW was granted approval to use drones to monitor shark activity over Coogee Beach.<\/p>\n

The temporary lifting of the drone ban by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, in place due to the suburb’s location under the flight path, has since been made permanent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A community reeling from a shark attack at a Sydney beach which left a woman in critical condition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[30489,30491,29048,14078,30490,17367,30492,5161,30488,30493,247],"class_list":["post-35263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-coogee-community-swim","tag-coogee-surf-life-saving-club","tag-leah-stewart","tag-randwick-city-council","tag-shark-attack-at-coogee-beach","tag-shark-bite","tag-shark-drones","tag-shark-surveillance","tag-shark-victim-leah-stewart","tag-swim-out","tag-sydney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}