Rodney Fox

Rodney Winston Fox is a South Australian film maker, conservationist, survivor of an attack by a great white shark, and one of the world's foremost authorities on that species. He was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in 2007.

Fox was born in South Australia on 9 November 1940.

Fox was attacked by a great white shark while spearfishing and badly bitten around the chest and arm in December 1963. His story of the attack and escape has been published many times. He is regarded as a miracle survivor of one of the world's worst non-fatal shark attacks.

In the attack, Fox's abdomen was fully exposed and all his ribs were broken on his left hand side. His diaphragm was punctured, his lung was ripped open, his scapula was pierced, his spleen was uncovered, his artery was exposed, and he was minutes away from his veins collapsing due to the loss of large amounts of blood. The tendons, fingers, and thumb in his right hand were all cut and to this day he has part of a shark tooth embedded in his wrist. His wounds required 462 stitches after the attack.

Fox went on to design and build the first underwater observation cage to dive with the great white shark, and for over 40 years has led major expeditions to film and study his attacker. He arranged and hosted the very first great white shark expedition to welcome sport divers, and has run hundreds of expeditions in the thirty years since.

Fox is regarded as a world authority on the great white shark and has a great reputation as an expedition leader and producer of shark documentaries. He has been involved in some way with most great white shark films made in the 20th century. He has hosted expeditions for over 100 major feature and documentary films with film makers and shark researchers from 16 different countries. Disney, Universal, IMAX, Cousteau Society and National Geographic have enlisted his help and have filmed and studied the great white shark from his cages.

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