Crocodile wrestler among Australian bravery awards

August 22, 2000
Web posted at: 10:48 a.m. HKT (0248 GMT)

CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) -- A man who saved his friend from the jaws of a four-meter (13 foot) crocodile was among a list of 83 recipients of the annual Australian Bravery Awards on Monday.

David Winkworth, 47, fought the giant reptile after it attacked his friend, Arunas Pilka, a year ago.

Pilka was standing in thigh-deep water at MacArthur Island in the far north of Queensland state last August when the crocodile bit him around the leg and dragged him into a "death roll."

Winkworth ran into the shallow water and straddled the crocodile, wrapping his arms around its torso.

The thrashing crocodile released Pilka, flicked Winkworth off its back and fled into deeper water.

"I guess when I grabbed him from behind it surprised him. I think they are used to being the aggressor," Winkworth, who has been nicknamed "Crocodile Winky," told reporters.

Pilka survived with deep cuts to his leg.

The highest bravery award for 1999, the Star of Courage, was handed to Northern Territory police sergeant James O'Brien.

O'Brien shot dead Rodney Ansell, the Australian bushman who inspired the 1986 hit movie Crocodile Dundee, after Ansell went on a shooting rampage which spanned 12 hours.

O'Brien, 28, manned a roadblock set up after Ansell shot and wounded two people last August.

O'Brien's partner, Sergeant Glen Huitson, was killed by Ansell but he repeatedly left his cover to shield others from the shots. He then attracted Ansell's attention and shot him dead as he was about to open fire again.

A motive for the rampage by Ansell, a 42-year-old buffalo catcher, was never established.

Other award recipients included policeman Paul McEwan and army major John Sholl, who rescued an Indonesian policeman from a machete-wielding mob in East Timor last year.

Sydney businessman Andrew Thirsk received a posthumous honor after he was shot dead while trying to help a group of 16 tourists taken hostage in Yemen in December 1998.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Australian Bravery Awards

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