S8 Ep369: Headline: Fatal Shark Attacks and Catastrophic Heat Disrupt Australia Day Guest: Jeremy Zakis A tragic shark attack killed a 12-year-old boy near Sydney, prompting beach closures across the region. Simultaneously, a severe heatwave causing temperatures ne
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A tragic shark attack killed a 12-year-old boy near Sydney, prompting beach closures across the region. Simultaneously, a severe heatwave causing temperatures near 120°F has triggered total fire bans, cancelling Australia Day fireworks and barbecues. Bushfires threaten Victoria while a cyclone approaches Western Australia.
1842
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the Friends of History Debating Society. I am John Batchelor in New England, |
| 0:05.8 | and Jeremy Zackis, my correspondent, is in New South Wales, and we begin with tragedy. |
| 0:12.4 | A boy, 12 years old, Sunday a week, at what is called Shark Beach at Nielsen Park, |
| 0:19.6 | attacked by a shark of unknown size, |
| 0:23.8 | because they haven't found the shark that did it, and the boy is now deceased. |
| 0:28.5 | Jeremy, this is grim business. He died at the Children's Hospital in Sydney. I know from years |
| 0:34.9 | of reporting with you, this is very unusual. |
| 0:42.3 | Is this a time for sharks that you were not expecting? |
| 0:43.9 | What have they done since the attack? |
| 0:44.7 | Good evening to you. |
| 0:45.8 | Gidey, John. |
| 0:48.1 | Yes, this is truly, truly unusual. |
| 0:56.4 | While it's true, we do get sharks in Sydney Harbor and around the Sydney beaches in summertime, we just don't get this many. |
| 0:56.8 | And by this many, what I mean, John, is that we have had three shark attacks within 48 hours. |
| 1:02.1 | And that was from last Sunday to Tuesday this week. |
| 1:04.9 | And they were all within a nine mile radius of each other. |
| 1:07.9 | So very, very close. |
| 1:09.7 | And the scariest part is, since that attack that |
| 1:12.4 | unfortunately has now killed the 12-year-old boy, there have also been numerous more shark sightings |
| 1:17.2 | in exactly the same area. So while we do swim in the sharks environment, they are the natural |
| 1:22.5 | predators and the natural habitats of that environment, to get this many sharks at this time of year |
| 1:28.5 | is very, very unusual right now. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.