Henri Bource (25 March 1934 – 4 September 1998) was a Dutch-Australian

scuba diver Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

, underwater filmmaker, musician and

shark attack A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of ...

survivor who lived and worked in Australia. In his film ''Savage Shadows'', he recreated the scene of a

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...

removing his left leg.

Early life

Bource was born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

and emigrated to Australia as a teenager in 1954. He learned to use an aqualung with his father and trained as a

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

Shark attack

Bource was attacked by what is believed to have been a 2.4 metre long great white shark off

Lady Julia Percy Island Lady Julia Percy Island, known as ''Deen Maar'' or ''Dhinmar'' in the Gunditjmara language, lies off the coast, in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia in Bass Strait. The island is an Unincorporated areas of Australia, unincorpo ...

in Australia in November 1964. He was 29 years old at the time, and was living in

Hawthorn East Hawthorn East is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Hawthorn East recorded a population of 14,834 at the 2021 census. The s ...

. He lost his left leg but survived the attack and went on to retell the story in his 1969 documentary film, ''Savage Shadows''. He continued to dive, wearing a modified diving fin on the stump of his left leg. During the 1970s he made a short film for

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

and

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...

called ''Reef of Steel'' and appeared in ''Island Treasure'' in 1981. He was interviewed at various times about his shark attack, including by

Peter Luck Peter Anthony Luck (5 January 1944 – 6 September 2017) was an Australian author, TV journalist, producer and presenter. Career As a television personality, among the shows he worked on were ''This Day Tonight'', ''Four Corners'', ''Sunday'', ...

in 1979.

Music career

Bource was a

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

and band leader of the Henri Bource Allstars. He also played with the Thunderbirds (1960–62), The Planets and The Johnny Donohue Quartet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bource, Henri 1934 births 1998 deaths Shark attack victims Underwater filmmakers Dutch emigrants to Australia Australian amputees Australian artists with disabilities Australian underwater divers Australian saxophonists 20th-century saxophonists 20th-century Australian male musicians 20th-century Australian musicians