# List of fatal snake bites in Australia

Below is a list of fatal snakebites that occurred in Australia. Omitted incidents include cases where someone died from falling after receiving a bite. Some of the comments include the first aid or treatment that was attempted. For the older fatalities, the term ligature meant wrapping a limb or finger with a string to act like a tourniquet, and the term scarify meant cutting the skin so blood flows out of the body, presumably to flush venom. Current practice advises not washing the affected body part so that medical personnel can sample venom residue on the skin to determine which type of snake was involved.
Although Australian snakes can be very venomous, comparatively little is known about the protein compositions of venoms from Australian snakes, compared to those of Asia and America. Wide access to antivenom and adequate medical care has made deaths exceedingly rare with only a few fatalities each year. Australian snakes possess potent venom; 10 of the world's top 10 most venomous snakes live in Australia.
The estimated incidence of snakebites annually in Australia is between 3 and 18 per 100,000 with an average mortality rate of 0.03 per 100,000 per year, or roughly 1 to 2 persons, down from 13 persons per year in the 1920s. Between 1979 and 1998 there were 53 deaths from snakes, according to data obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Between 1942 and 1950 there were 56 deaths from snakebite recorded in Australia. Of 28 deaths in the 1945-1949 period, 18 occurred in Queensland, 6 in New South Wales, 3 in Western Australia and 1 in Tasmania. Globally, 1.8–2.7 million people are envenomed annually, with more than 125,000 people dying, and for every fatality there are another 3 to 4 people permanently disabled. In 2017, the World Health Organization added snakebite envenoming to their list of Neglected tropical diseases, requesting the cooperation of antivenom agencies worldwide.
A Queensland Government occupational health publication says that "Snakes are not usually aggressive and do not seek confrontation with humans but may retaliate if provoked. The important thing to remember is to never attempt to catch or kill a snake – most snake bites occur when people are trying to do this."

## 19th century

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 1867 | Tiger Snake | William Drummond, police magistrate | Melbourne, Victoria; A showman named Shires performed an act in which he allowed himself to be bitten by a deadly tiger snake. Drummond, convinced that Shires was a fraud, demanded to be bitten by the snake himself. Shires complied – and Drummond passed out. Shires was acquitted of manslaughter on the grounds that he had been denied the opportunity to treat Drummond using a home-made antivenom. |
| 5 November 1875 | Tiger Snake | Mrs. Falconer | Swan Hill, Victoria, treated by injecting ammonia and died 50 hours after being bitten by a tiger snake about 6 ft. in length. |
| December 1878 | Tiger Snake | M'Fadden, 12yo boy | Alexandra, Victoria; bitten on the hand while planting potatoes, first aid was ligature and scarifying, later a doctor injected him with ammonia. He died 20 hours after being bitten. |
| October 1884 | unknown | Henry Marsh | Coleraine, New South Wales; bitten when walking home from school. Taken to a doctor but died later the same day. |
| February 1887 | Red-Bellied Black snake | Unnamed gardener | Wangaratta, Victoria; bitten on heel, they hit the snake and rubbed its head on the wound (a Chinese antidote). |
| April 1893 | Tiger snake | Charles Mason, 10yo boy | Stawell, Victoria, stepped on a pregnant tiger snake in a bush way. First aid: a ligature was applied, the wound scarified, and stimulants administered. The boy was taken to hospital where he died 8 hours after being bitten by the snake. |
| May 1893 | Tiger Snake | Victor Hullar | Victoria, was bitten on the hand during a snake demonstration. First aid: Brandy with some unnamed antidote, and washing the wound. Later a ligature was applied, the victim was injected with strychnine, and he was sent to the hospital where he passed out. |
| February 1895 | Tiger Snake | Armit, 8yo boy | Inverary, New South Wales, near Bungonia, bitten on the ankle while crossing a paddock barefooted. First aid: ligature and scarified. Later, strychnine. |
| January 1896 | Unknown | Miss Kelly, 8yo girl | Victoria, bitten on the finger, arm, and throat while asleep on a porch. The snake was killed, the wound scarified and sucked, but the child died on the way to the hospital. |
| September 1898 | Tiger snake | Chapman, 15yo boy | New South Wales; bitten while bird catching. A friend took them to hospital but arrived four hours after the bite & perished. |
| January 1899 | Tiger snake | Dudley, 13yo female | Bruthen, Victoria; trod on snake while carrying parcel. |
| January 1899 | Mainland Tiger snake | Gordon, 9yo boy | Congbool station, Balmoral, Victoria, bitten twice on the thumb while removing some rails to get a rabbit. |
| March 1899 | Tiger Snake | Pat O'Rourke, 74yo male | Kilmore, Victoria, bitten on little finger when he went to the barn for some hay. The wound was bound, scarified and sucked. He sought medical treatment and was later sent home where he fell into laziness, but died. |

## 20th century
### 1900s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| November 1900 | | 13yo girl | Bendigo, Victoria |
| September 1901 | Tiger Snake | Reginald Heeps, 10yo boy | Tallangatta, Victoria bitten on the finger while catching rabbits, The wound was scarified, treated by a doctor who administered strychnine and brandy. Died one day later |
| December 1901 | Common Death Adder | "a little lad" | Wiseman's Ferry New South Wales; bitten on the foot, died before the doctor arrived |
| October 1902 | Tiger Snake | 15yo boy | Coonong, New South Wales; bitten on the calf while bird-catching, died four hours later |
| November 1906 | | small boy | Yea, Victoria |
| 1907 | | Frances McKnight | Middle Harbour, New South Wales; snake bit her three times on ankle while McKnight was gathering wild-flowers |
| 1908 | | Walter Harden | Maroubra, New South Wales |
| 1908 | | Ronald Whitechurch | Seymour, Victoria |
| 1909 | | Hugh McDay | Deloraine, Tasmania |

### 1910s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 1910 | Brown snake | Howard Thomas | Queensland |
| March 1910 | | 14yo male | Casterton, Victoria; was rabbiting with friends, bitten when put hand in a burrow to get a rabbit |
| 1913 | Eastern brown snake | Garnett See | La Perouse, New South Wales, snake show. |
| 1913 | Tiger snake | Harry Deline | Melbourne, snake show. |
| 1914 | Tiger snake | Alex Rolfe | No further details. |
| November 1915 | | 21yo male | Laverton, Victoria |
| 1917 | | Vogel boy | Tintaldra, Victoria |
| 1917 | Tiger snake | George Vowells | Sydney, Antidote vendor. |

### 1920s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 27 February 1920 | Unknown | Thomas Boxer | Coleraine, Bitten on the hand while trying to catch a rabbit in a burrow on Kurtuk estate. Taken to the homestead then by car to a doctor. Died the following day. |
| 13 March 1920 | Tiger snake | Teresa Caton, 26yo female | Sydney, a carnival girl was bitten while 'playing' with some snakes belonging to snake showman Thomas Wanless. The wound was scarified, a ligature applied, and Wanless' antidote administered. The victim refused further treatment until 12 hours after the bite, which was too late. Wanless died the following year in South Africa from a Green mamba bite. |
| 3 December 1920 | Tiger snake | Ralph Shegog, 9yo male | Gundowring, Victoria, Bitten at his fathers dairy farm and died one day later. |
| 13 December 1920 | Unknown | Colleera Telford, 3yo female | Apollo Bay, Victoria; Bitten while at her parents' dairy farm. Puncture marks found on leg after death. |
| December 1925 | Tiger Snake | Charles McPherson | Molesworth, Tasmania; bitten while sitting on a tarpaulin, reading, on a camping trip. The wound was incised and cleansed and a ligature applied. He died in hospital 12 hours after being bitten. |
| July 1926 | Brown snake | Maud Frances Byden, 29yo female | Queensland, the woman was trying to bag a 4 ft long brown snake and it bit her above the knee. |
| October 1927 | Tiger snake | Ernest Pollack, middle-aged male | Fitzroy, Victoria, having collected and bagged several specimens earlier in the day, he was found at home having been bitten. |
| 1928 | Tiger snake | Dot Vane | Perth, snake show, wife of Rocky Vane. |
| May 1928 | Tiger snake | C.J. French | Adelaide, bitten on the forearm while giving a demonstration to children at the Adelaide Zoo where he was the curator of the snake park which was opened just two months earlier. Ligature, cut and sucked wound, applied permanganate crystals. He later died at hospital. |
| February 1929 | Tiger snake | Harry Melrose, 42yo male | Perth, William Henry Melrose, a partner of Rocky Vane's, was showing off with a bag of snakes he was bitten on the hand. He was taken to hospital where the wound was scarified and other remedies applied. He died two days after being bitten. |

### 1930s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 1930 | Tiger snake | Pegleg Davis | Snake handling. |
| February 1930 | Common Death adder | Rachel Pratt, 11yo female | Toowoomba, Queensland, bitten on the foot, brought to hospital but died 3 hours later. |
| 20 March 1930 | Undisclosed | Dulcie Joan Wilson, 5yo female | Laceby South. |
| August 1930 | Brown snake | Ernest Christian Neimi, 25yo male | near Ingham, Queensland, stepped on the snake and bitten on the ankle, he cut the wound and applied a ligature and antidote. He was rushed to hospital where he died. |
| November 1930 | Tiger snake | Ina Murray | Albury, New South Wales, stepped on the snake and bitten was on the leg. Her husband scarified the wound and she was rushed to hospital where she died soon after. |
| April 1931 | Tiger snake | James/Jimmy Murray, 19yo male | Marrawah, Tasmania, was giving a demonstration. Murray was a snake dealer who caught numerous snakes and sold them to Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research for venom extraction and research. |
| 1932 | Tiger snake | John Graves | Whittlesea, Victoria, Snake handling |
| February 1932 | Undisclosed | Mrs. Mervyn Cole, 43yo female | Horsham, Victoria; was bitten on the foot while fishing and died several hours later. |
| March 1932 | Undisclosed | Raymond George Barham, 13yo male | Gosford, New South Wales, testimony at a coroner inquest: a ligature was applied and a half-hour later the doctor said black snakes weren't venomous and they removed the ligature. |
| 15 March 1934 | Brown snake | Mr Archibald Thompson, 56yo male | Greta, New South Wales; bitten while in the bush, scarified, ligature applied. |
| December 1934 | Tiger snake | Julius Mitchell, 58yo male | Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, known as Milo the Snake Man, he was exhibiting his snakes when one bit him on the hand as he was trying to put it back in its box. He made incisions and applied a liquid, tied a loose ligature, and refused further medical treatment. |
| 24 October 1935 | Sea snake | Maso Fukami, 23yo male | Thirty mile offshore Bathurst Island, Northern Territory, a Japanese pearl diver was grasped by an 8 ft sea snake on his wrist. The diver tore the snake off him, was hauled aboard, a ligature applied. |
| 8 October 1936 | Death adder | Luigi Valese, 4yo male | Mossman, Queensland; Bitten on his cane farm while in the fields with his father. |
| 18 December 1938 | Unknown | Martha Elliot, 53yo female | Kiewa, Victoria; Bitten on the foot after stepping out of a bath. Received antivenine but died one day later. |
| August 1939 | Brown snake | Oley J. Kalloch, 52yo male | Queensland, found five to seven days after his death by a fellow miner and friend, Kalloch had written his will in charcoal on a piece of newspaper, saying he was bitten by a big brown snake. There was a ligature on his leg and his big toe was lanced for scarifying. |

### 1940s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| October 1940 | Unidentified | Miss Norma Wells, 12-year-old daughter | Bitten on the foot while walking beside the Goulburn River, died later in hospital. |
| September 1946 | Undisclosed | Norman Boyd, 4yo male | Hampton, New South Wales; He was bitten while playing outside his home and later died after doctors failed to revive him. |
| January 1948 | Tiger Snake | Dorothy Vera Townson | Pelion Hut, Overland Track, Tasmania; She had been bitten twice on the lower right leg by a snake, believed to be a tiger snake, about 11.30 am on Wednesday. The snake hung on and bruised her leg after the second strike. The punctures were lacerated and tourniquets applied, but the treatment was ineffective, and Miss Townson died at 4.30 am on Thursday. Numerous hikers took turns carrying her body by litter 24 miles in 18 hours to get her down off the mountain. |

### 1950s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 28 July 1950 | Coastal taipan | Kevin Budden, 20yo male | Cairns, Queensland; specimen captured and subsequently milked by David Fleay in Melbourne to produce first antivenom. |
| 1956 | Tiger snake | Curley Bell | Haywood swamps, snake collecting. |

### 1970s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| January 1972 | Undisclosed | Mark Turner, 6yo male | Lowmead, Queensland, bitten on his shin on his father's property. |
| January 1973 | brown snake | Leonard Sacco, 38yo male | Glenlyon, Queensland, was bitten while out shooting rabbits. |
| June 1973 | brown snake | John Murphy, 55yo male | Charters Towers, Queensland, did not consider the bite serious and didn't seek care until he collapsed five hours later. |
| 1977 | Tiger snake | Gordon Kennedy | Brighton, Tasmania, snake exhibition. |
| 1977 | P. australis? | Fred Duffy | Darwin, Northern Territory, snake exhibition. |

### 1980s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 1986 | Western brown snake | 61yo female | Cervantes, Western Australia, bitten on lower leg, walked a distance, no first aid |
| 1989 | Western brown snake | 33yo female | Carnarvon, Western Australia, unnoticed, no first aid, discovered at autopsy |

### 1990s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 1993 | Eastern brown snake | 50yo male | Bundaberg, Queensland |
| 24 February 1993 | Western Brown Snake/Gwardar | 31yo male | Derby, unwitnessed, snake in bucket, victim found unconscious with head injuries. Assumed to have been bitten, resulting in a fall. Antivenom administered at Derby Hospital but with no improvement. Patient air-ambulanced to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital where he died. |
| 6 February 1994 | Northern death adder | Richard Scott, 2yo male | Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, bite not witnessed but confirmed by autopsy. |
| 14 February 1996 | Coastal taipan | Peter Ryan, 33 yo male | Kerry, Queensland, bitten twice on left leg on 23 January 1996. Transferred from Beaudesert Hospital to Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane where he died on 14 February 1996. Bite was witnessed, pathology confirmed and multiple doses of antivenom administered. Confirmed as Taipan again on autopsy report |
| 1 December 1997 | Western Brown Snake/Gwardar | Murray Plane, 33yo male | Tarmoola Gold Mine, North of Leonora, Western Australia; Man inebriated and handling snake which he and his friends found in miners' quarters during the night of 1 December. Air-ambulanced to Royal Perth Hospital where he subsequently died on 4 December. |
| 31 Oct 1998 | Desert Death Adder | Michael Ross, 9yo male | Broome, Western Australia, bite not witnessed. Died en route to hospital 180 km away. |
| 5 Nov 1998 | Tiger Snake | Tony Patterson, 14yo male | High Wycombe, Western Australia, bitten on hand while photographing snake. Initial first aid inadequate, followed by collapse, hospitalization with antivenoms. |
| 1999 | Tiger Snake | Joey McGlashan, 7yo male | Kennett River, Victoria |
| 29 Nov 1999 | Western Brown Snake/Gwardar | Male, 35yo | Broome, caught snake on 27 Nov. and was bitten while showing snake being placed in a bag. Received antivenom at hospital shortly after. |

## 21st century
### 2000s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 2003 | Tiger snake | Unnamed, elderly female | Kew, Victoria; bitten while pruning vines. |
| 2 January 2006 | Brown snake | Bevan Corbett, 20yo male | Cobar, New South Wales; bitten repeatedly while jogging. |
| 16 April 2007 | Whip snake | Ron Siggins, 37yo male | Harcourt, Victoria; bitten on the finger by a snake considered no more deadly than a bee-sting. The victim had been handling snakes for over 30 years and had been bitten by Whip snakes before. |
| 14 January 2007 | Eastern brown snake | Undisclosed name, 16yo boy | Whalan, New South Wales; bitten on hand, it is believed his trek to find help in hot conditions may have advanced spread of venom. |
| 10 March 2007 | Eastern brown snake | Milena Swilks, 9yo female | Rocky River, New South Wales, bitten on her foot in a vegetable patch and died two hours later. |
| 15 January 2009 | Western brown snake | Undisclosed name, 60yo female | Carnarvon, Western Australia |

### 2010s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 26 November 2010 | Western Brown Snake/Gwardar | Michael Thorpe, 43yo male | Gingin, Western Australia, bitten on the toe by a 50 cm snake and died 2½ hours later after being transported to hospital and receiving antivenom. |
| 2 November 2011 | Eastern brown snake | Narelle Pails, 42yo | Warwick, Queensland |
| 17 November 2011 | Eastern brown snake | Andrew Smith, 35yo | Emerald, Queensland |
| 8 October 2012 | Eastern brown snake | Ashley Leishman, 26yo male | Miles, Queensland |
| 1 November 2012 | Coastal Taipan | Andrew Vaughan, 57yo male | Yeppoon, Queensland |
| 3 December 2012 | Brown snake | Colin Field, 80yo male | Wilsons Plains, Queensland |
| 10 March 2013 | Stephen's banded snake | Bradley "Brad" Hicks, 60yo male | Kalang, New South Wales, man was bitten on the hand. It took three hours to rescue him due to flooding and he didn't reach hospital until 7 hours after the bite. |
| 23 April 2013 | Gwardar | Karl Berry, 26yo | Darwin, Northern Territory |
| 2 November 2013 | Unknown | Undisclosed name, 59yo female | Glen Oak, New South Wales; most likely bitten by an Eastern brown snake Pseudonaja textilis |
| 8 October 2014 | Western Brown Snake/Gwardar | Undisclosed name, 41yo male | Laverton, Western Australia, bitten multiple times on hand and arm while trying to grab and kill snake. Refused first aid and collapsed 45 minutes later. |
| 6 November 2014 | Tiger Snake | Shane Tatti, 27yo male | Jarrahmond, Victoria, bitten on the wrist while weeding along a river bank. Tatti died despite getting the ordinary antivenom dose, but later testing revealed he had active venom in his system after his death, leading to debates in the toxicology field about antivenom protocols. |
| December 2014 | Unknown | Dane Kowalski, 27yo male | 95 km south of Coober Pedy, South Australia; presumed bitten. His body was found 3 months after his vehicle was found after he went missing. |
| 3 January 2015 | Tiger snake | Mrs. Z., 70yo female | Melton, Victoria, bitten on her toe in her sleep in bed. She received two vials of antivenom within 3 hours after the bites, and a third vial later. |
| 17 August 2015 | Unconfirmed, possibly a Speckled brown snake, Tiger snake or Dugite | Anna Wortham | South Fremantle, Western Australia, bitten on heel while out walking. |
| 25 October 2015 | Brown Snake or Taipan (Unconfirmed) | Undisclosed name, 62yo male | Townsville, Queensland |
| 5 February 2016 | Eastern brown snake | Undisclosed name, 6yo female | Walgett, New South Wales |
| 10 April 2016 | Coastal Taipan | Wayne Cameron, 54yo male | Rockhampton, Queensland |
| 26 December 2016 | Coastal Taipan | David Pitt, 77yo male | Yorkeys Knob, north of Cairns, Queensland |
| 10 January 2018 | Eastern brown snake | Brent Crough, 24yo male | Tamworth, New South Wales |
| 5 February 2018 | Unknown | Sinita Martin, 27yo female | Meekatharra, Western Australia; The 27-year-old victim's unborn baby also died as a result of the snake bite. |
| 19 April 2018 | Eastern brown snake | Aaron Bryant, 46yo male | Deeragun, Queensland; A man carried the snake over to a neighbor to see if he could identify it, saying it had bitten him. He collapsed shortly afterwards. |
| 4 October 2018 | Unknown Sea snake species | Harry Evans, 23yo male | Offshore, near Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory; Bitten while pulling in a net. First sea snake fatality in Australia since 1935. |
| 9 October 2018 | Unknown | Mary Nicholls, 83yo female | Koorda, Western Australia, bitten on ankle while pushing a wheelbarrow. Victim told her son she felt the snake brush past but didn't think she was bitten, though blood was found on closer examination. Following symptoms of vomiting, she was placed in an induced coma but died in hospital in Perth. |
| 29 December 2018 | Tiger Snake | Callum Edwards, 20yo male | Lardner, 5 km south-west of Warragul, Victoria; Bitten whilst attending the Beyond the Valley music festival on 29 December 2018 and was airlifted to hospital, where he died on 1 January 2019. His death was initially suspected to have occurred from a drug overdose, however medical staff later found traces of tiger snake venom in his system. |
| 17 March 2019 | Unknown | Nathan Scattini, 41yo male | Champion Lakes, Western Australia; Nathan Scattini telephoned emergency services, saying he had been bitten by a snake on 17 March while bushwalking in the Kelmscott area. Emergency services were unable to locate Scattini or make further contact and a search operation commenced. Police located Scattini's body in bushland on 19 March. |
| 23 October 2019 | Western brown snake | Dale Steele, 68yo male | Northern Territory; A tourist from South Australia died while camping in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park. He sought help at the ranger's station, but lost consciousness and died. |

### 2020s

| Date | Species | Name, age | Location; Comments |
| 28 January 2020 | Tiger Snake | Winston Fish, 78yo male | Oatlands, Tasmania; bitten at least five times by a large snake while travelling on his farm, died at Royal Hobart Hospital two days later. |
| 30 January 2020 | Eastern brown snake | Roger Taylor, 76yo male | Vale View, Queensland; Passed out in Princess Alexandra hospital several days after being bitten approximately 4 times by a Brown Snake while moving nets at his Vale View property. Initially unaware of severity, the victim drove approximately 30 minutes to Toowoomba to attend a gathering where he collapsed and hit his head. |
| 20 September 2020 | Eastern brown snake | Timote Ongosia, 40yo male | Dimbulah, Queensland; Tongan seasonal fruit picker, died in Cairns Hospital two days later. |
| 20 May 2021 | Unknown | Vange Missios, 49yo male | Taradale, Victoria; Had been working on a landscaping job on May 12 before visiting a local transfer station where he collapsed, suffering cardiac arrest. Paramedics worked on him for an hour and a half and his heart stopped three times as they tried to save him. It was later discovered that he had unknowingly been bitten by a snake at some point that day. He was placed in an induced coma and on life support for days following, but died on May 20. |
| 21 November 2021 | Unknown | Tristian Frahm, 11yo male | Murgon, Queensland; bitten while visiting a property with his father, who was later charged with manslaughter after failing to seek medical attention. |
| 2 November 2022 | Eastern brown snake | Michelle Geary, 55yo female | Gayndah, Queensland |
| 28 January 2023 | Suspected Eastern brown snake | Unknown, 60s male | Kensington Grove, Queensland |
| 24 October 2023 | Suspected Eastern brown snake | Unknown, 25yo male | Nullawil, Victoria; bitten while working at a grain receival site, later died in hospital. |
| 20 March 2024 | Eastern brown snake | Jerromy Brookes, 47yo male | Deeragun, Queensland; suffered multiple snake bites on his left arm at a childcare centre, later died in hospital. |
| 27 November 2024 | Eastern brown snake | Beau Horan, 16yo male | Gladstone, Queensland; Bitten on the foot at home, later died in hospital. |