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A Canadian teenager whose body was found surrounded by dingoes on a K’gari beach off Queensland was on a months-long trip along the east coast of Australia.
Piper James, 19, had been travelling with a friend down the Queensland coast from Cairns when she found work at an accommodation provider on K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island.
Her body was spotted by two men driving along 75 Mile Beach on the east side of the island about 6.30am on Monday near the historic S.S. Maheno shipwreck.
Piper James had been travelling down Australia’s east coast with a friend.
James had told friends she was going for a swim about 5am.
K’gari beaches are not patrolled and have strong ocean currents. The surf was rough on Monday morning, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with winds reaching 25 knots.
James’s wounds are being investigated, with an autopsy planned for Wednesday to establish whether she drowned or was killed by the wild dingoes.
“It was obviously a very traumatic and horrific scene,” Inspector Paul Algie told reporters.
“The woman’s body had been touched and interfered with by the dingoes, but we’re not speculating yet as to whether that had anything to do with her cause of death.
“We simply can’t confirm whether this young lady drowned or died as a result of being attacked by dingoes.”
This masthead was told by a friend of James, Zane Egan, he met the Canadian and her travelling companion at a backpackers’ hostel in Cairns late last year.
The woman was found north of the Maheno shipwreck on K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island. Credit: Alamy
“We became really good friends; we were going out all the time, having fun,” he said in an interview.
Egan said he drove the two Canadians to Airlie Beach, stopping along the way, before they found work on K’gari.
Hervey Bay Mayor George Seymour said the incident was devastating, and part of a trend showing dingoes on the island were becoming increasingly aggressive.
“Whatever the finding is – and we expect to know within the next 24 hours or so – for someone so young from overseas to lose their life in our community is a real tragedy,” he said on Tuesday.
“What we’re seeing over the past few years is a change in the behaviour … we’re seeing more attacks in different ways, like dingoes following people into the water and attacking them.
“That’s something we hadn’t seen before.
“I think there needs to be a review of the approach.”
A person with knowledge of the investigation said James might have suffered defensive wounds, but the cause of her injuries was still being investigated.
A postmortem examination to confirm a cause of death was planned for Wednesday, Seymour said.
Australian authorities made contact with James’s family with help from Interpol, while the High Commission of Canada released a statement on Tuesday morning.
“We are aware of the death of a citizen … and Canadian officials are providing consular assistance to the family,” it said.
“We extend our condolences to the family and loved ones.”
James was found north of the Maheno shipwreck, a landmark on the island that ran aground in 1935.
The management of dingoes on K’gari is contentious, with numerous attacks reported on the World Heritage-listed sand island each year.
At least four dingo attacks were reported there in 2025, including one on a nine-year-old boy near Yidney Rocks Beachfront Units and another on a woman who was bitten on the hand at the island’s Winnam camping area when she was approached by five dingoes.
The most prominent fatal attack occurred in April 2001, when nine-year-old Brisbane boy Clinton Gage was fatally mauled by two dingoes while holidaying on the island with his family.
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