Mother of girl killed by croc has surprising message about the beasts (2024)

A mother whose young daughter was killed by a crocodile as she swam with friends has urged the Northern Territory government not to expand culling of the feared predators.

Briony Goodsell, 11, was cooling off in a creek at Lambells Lagoon near Humpty Doo, south-east of Darwin, with her sister and two friends on a hot Sunday afternoon in March 2009 when she jumped in the water and failed to resurface.

A coroner found the girl had been taken by a 3.2m saltwater crocodile.

Her mum, Charlene O'Sullivan, said despite her still 'fresh' heartbreak more than a decade on, education programs were the best way to keep people safe.

Briony's death sparked a program by NT authorities to remove all crocodiles within a 50km radius of Darwin, with the more aggressive ones culled and others moved on.

The family previously called for a cull of every crocodile within 100km of Darwin, but Ms O'Sullivan, who went on to start her own crocodile farm to sell handbags and jewellery, said she now believes that safety education, relocating problem crocs, and egg harvesting are more effective.

'It's still very traumatic, and it's still very deep-seated in our hearts,' Ms O'Sullivan told the ABC.

'(But culling) is going to be giving a false sense of security... my biggest thing has always been education.'

The crocodile responsible for the attack was never located but, in his findings, coroner Greg Cavanagh said he was confident of the cause of death.

The area where the children had been swimming, Black Jungle Swamp, was known to have crocodiles and her companions had seen a large bubble immediately after Briony jumped into the water followed by the flash of a crocodile tail.

The children should not have been swimming there but, as it was put in news reports at the time, 'kids will be kids' and it was a 'tragic misadventure'.

Several police officers who also had young children risked their own lives by wading chest deep into the creek in the hours after Briony disappeared and had to be dragged out by other officers hours later.

Her partial remains were found downstream the next day.

Despite evidence being given at the inquest that crocodile numbers had increased to up to 150,000 in the Northern Territory in the years before the attack, Mr Cavanagh concluded that culling would not work and would lead to complacency.

Mr Cavanagh said that as part of the Top End community, residents must acknowledge that dangerous, man-eating animals lived among humans.

'There is a balance to be achieved between the ethical and sustainable treatment of crocodiles and the safety of the public,' he said.

'The current crocodile management plan prepared and approved by the Northern Territory government promises the community that there will be increased attention to, and efforts with regard to, public safety.

'I recommend that the increased public safety measures which are set out in detail... are resourced and implemented,' he said in his findings.

Scientists told the ABC this week that despite crocodile numbers surging since hunting was banned in 1970s, the number of attacks have not increased.

Retiring chair of the Crocodile Specialist Group, Grahame Webb, said the NT government's current program of removing aggressive crocodiles was effective.

He said the only way to make it 100 per cent safe was to completely eradicate crocodiles.

But he added the Northern Territory, which has the world's biggest croc population, should be ensuring that resources are focused on tourist spots where people are told they can swim so that they are guaranteed to be crocodile free.

The Northern Territory chief minister has flagged that she is uncomfortable with the number of saltwater crocodiles in the territory as her government released a draft plan in February to manage crocodiles for the next 10 years.

Chief Minister Eva Lawler said the consultation paper for the government's next saltwater crocodile management plan would 'allow the public to have a say around crocodiles, including on culling'.