Tragedy Strikes on New Year’s Day: Devoted Mum of Two Drowns at Unpatrolled Beach as Death Toll Rises Across Australia’s East Coast
- Melissa Austin, 45, pulled from the water at Dunbogan Beach, NSW, and pronounced dead at the scene
- Popular hairdressing salon owner remembered as a ‘truly beautiful person’ by clients and friends
- Australia’s East Coast drowning toll rises to four on New Year’s Day, with multiple searches ongoing for missing swimmers
A devastating start to the year has left a community in shock after a dedicated mother of two drowned at an unpatrolled beach on New Year’s Day. Melissa Austin, 45, was pulled from the water at Dunbogan Beach, on NSW’s Mid-North Coast, about 3pm on Thursday, but despite the best efforts of paramedics and police, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Austin, who owned a popular hairdressing salon in Berowra, North Sydney, called Mel’s Hair and Beauty, has been remembered as a ‘truly beautiful person’ by clients and friends. In a heartfelt tribute on social media, the salon confirmed her passing, saying ‘with broken hearts, we share the passing of Mel the beautiful owner of Mel’s Hair and Beauty’.
‘We kindly ask for privacy, understanding, and compassion during this incredibly painful time,’ the Facebook post reads. ‘Please be patient and kind with us as we navigate the next steps forward.’ Clients and friends paid tribute to Austin in heartfelt comments under the post, with one saying the news was ‘completely unexpected’.
‘I can hardly believe it’s true. She will be so missed by everyone who knew her,’ they wrote. Another added Austin was a ‘truly beautiful person and will be so deeply missed’. Her mother-in-law Jo-Anne Bovis told the Daily Telegraph the incident occurred on the first day of a week-long holiday.
Austin was one of four people to have drowned along Australia’s East Coast on New Year’s Day, with Queensland authorities confirming two deaths at iconic beaches within hours of each other, while NSW has confirmed one other fatality. Searches remain ongoing for a 14-year-old boy at Palm Beach, North Sydney, and a 25-year-old man at Coogee Beach, Sydney’s East, after separate incidents over the turn of the New Year.
The incidents have sparked an urgent warning from Surf Life Saving NSW CEO Steven Pearce, who told Sunrise ‘the conditions are super dangerous right up and down the coastline’. ‘It was just so dangerous to go in and just so frustrating to see tragic losses of life that could have been prevented,’ he said.
‘People are travelling to so many locations, we can’t have lifesavers and lifeguards standing on every beach,’ Pearce added. ‘That’s why we’re just trying to direct and herald people to just go to those locations where the red and yellow flags are because it does show the importance of a patrolled location.’