A young girl’s quick thinking has helped save a stranded humpback whale, after it became stuck in shallow water near the entrance to K’gari (formerly Fraser Island).

Chantelle Smith posted incredible footage of her 10-year-old daughter Scarlet splashing water on the whale that was stuck in shallow water near the Wathumba Creek entrance of Queensland’s heritage-listed sand island.

“It was talking to us,” she said.

“The whale survived. Tide came up and he swam away.”

Ms Smith has been visiting the area on her jet ski to see the whales for the past 20 years.

She said it was a very cool experience now that they knew the whale survived and was able to swim back out to sea.

“I’m happy now, to be honest it actually ruined the rest of the beautiful day because I was just so sad wondering if it was going to actually get out,” she said.

“But until we heard that it did, it was all very sad because you know lots of whales die all the time from beaching.”

She said they came across the whale on its own while they were jet skiing off the island and anchored next to the huge marine mammal.

She said they kept splashing water on the whale to keep it wet but had to leave before authorities arrived, however another couple stayed with the animal until the tide came back in.

“He managed to free himself then,” she said.

“Another boat told me it had been reported as we were pulling up so we knew that there was help on the way.

“We just kept him wet as possible, and I knew that it was probably going to be another couple of hours until the tide came in so he could swim back out.

“The mouth was wide open and we saw all of its baleens, which is like hair.”

A Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation spokesman said wildlife officers received a call about the stranded whale shortly after 9am on Sunday.

A spokesman said the whale freed itself not long after officers arrived at Wathumba Creek, a turquoise tidal estuary on the western side of K’gari, about 46km from Hervey Bay.

The creek system transforms into a large saltwater lake packed with marine life at high tide, according to Fraser Coast Tourism and Events.

The area is vast and rarely visited by tourists, the tourism authority said.