Woman Loses Partner, Two Sons In Drowning Tragedy

I can’t imagine being Stacey Lambert right now. Yesterday we brought you the news that a father and his two sons died in a drowning accident.

Today, tragic new details have emerged of what happened that night in Tathra, on the far south coast of NSW.

It was twilight on Tuesday, probably a little after 8pm, when the boys fell from the unfenced wharf their father Shane O’ Neill was fishing from. Witnesses believe that 4-year-old Riley had been playing on 15-month-old Travis’s pram, causing them both to topple into the sea.

Robert Brown, from Canberra, was also on the wharf. When the boys fell, Mr O’Neill threw himself in after his sons, Mr Brown said.

The night was fast darkening, and 20-knot winds had whipped up a 1.5 metre swell. Mr Brown, a police officer, waited only to strip off his clothes and boots before following them into the sea.

500 metres away, five members of the Tathra Surf Life Saving Club had gathered for a meeting. About 8.22 they received a call that two children and a number of adults needed rescuing.

Within three minutes, lifesavers arrived at the wharf. They found Mr Brown struggling to keep his head above water, grasping onto a booster seat being used as a makeshift float. The two lifesavers helped Mr Brown onto the wharf. But in the darkness they could not see Mr O’Neill and his sons before torchlight showed them floating face down under the wharf.

Lifeguards performed CPR on Mr O’Neill for about 20 minutes until an ambulance arrived. He was pronounced dead.

Locals yesterday described him as a warm, caring father, passionate about fishing and the outdoors. Mitch Creary, his coach at the Bega Roosters football club, said Mr O’Neill and his fiancee Stacey were a “really close, a really good couple”.

I don’t know about you, but this story has had me spontaneously weeping a few times now. Maybe because it’s so close to Christmas, or because the youngest child looks much like my own little boy.

If you would like to help Stacey an appeal has been set up through the Horizon Credit Union branch (NSW South Coast) or by EFT. The account is Shane O’Neill Family Appeal, BSB: 802-124, account number 90058. All funds raised will go towards funeral expenses and other financial burdens.

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