Heroic teenager Austin Appelbee has been given WA’s most prestigious bravery award after his remarkable act of courage made headlines around the globe.
On January 30, the then 13-year-old swam 4km in open water before running two more up a boggy beach to save his mum and siblings — after they had drifted out to sea.
And despite the much-deserved award, handed out by WA governor Chris Dawson on Tuesday, the humble 14-year was insistent others that day were just as deserving of recognition.
Austin wanted to share the award with his mum, younger brother and sister, and took time to pay tribute to the crews that rescued the, after he had raised the alarm.
“Their bravery was just so outstanding, and they also deserve an award today,” he said.
Austin said that while it felt “delightful to be honoured” with the Royal Humane Society’s 2026 Clarke Gold Medal, he still couldn’t fully comprehend what he did on that day.
“I don’t really believe I did that,” he said, adding he sometimes entirely forgot what he endured.
“It’s usually when I have a deep thought or can’t sleep at night when I go, ‘geez, it was a bit of a big swim I did’.”
His heroism has come with many accolades and attention, some of which has not been without its challenges.
“A few weeks ago I rewatched interviews, and it hit me a bit. I had a few nightmares, but the last few weeks has been just sunny days,” he said.
Austin, his brother Beau, 13, and sister Grace, eight, were dragged out to sea along with mother Joanne Appelbee with a paddle board and kayak off Quindalup in WA’s South West.
As conditions worsened, Ms Appelbee knew sending her oldest son towards shore was their best chance at survival.
Austin battled rough seas for more than four gruelling hours as he swam for help. Once he reached land, and despite extreme exhaustion, he than ran 2km to where the family had left their belongings at Club Wyndham Dunsborough, where he called triple-0.
“Both his heroic actions to swim and run to get help were instrumental in alerting emergency services and enabling the successful rescue of his mother, sister and brother,” WA governor Chris Dawson said.
Once Austin sounded the alarm, rescue crews raced against time to find the stranded family before nightfall.
At about 8.40pm and after 10 hours in the water, Ms Appelbee, Beau and Grace were spotted by the RAC rescue helicopter almost 14km out to sea.
Both Ms Appelbee and Austin revealed they had feared the worst in those hours, believing the other hadn’t made it.
Ms Appelbee, was also awarded a certificate of merit for her display of “judgment, composure and maternal leadership”.
The mother and son were among eight award recipients at the awards ceremony at Governement House.
Carl Pilkington was given the second highest honour, a gold medal, for saving an elderly woman from her burning house in Marble Bar in October 2023.
The off-duty police officer and volunteer firefighter, in heat exceeding 48C, entered the burning house with limited protection and fought through multiple obstacles to get the woman out.
She was pulled from the burning house just minutes before it was completely engulfed.
“It’s just one of those things when you’re in a situation and you don’t have time to dwell, you just you act,” Mr Pilkington said.
“You either get hurt or someone else does.”
Mr Dawson said the actions of the Appelbees, Mr Pilkington and all the other recipients should serve as a reminder to the broader community to step up when help was needed.
“People at times will just stand by and record things as opposed to step forward and act. I think there’s a lesson there for us that, as a community, we should take note of what these people have done. They didn’t stand by,” he said.
“I’m openly saying, we all need to learn from this, me and everyone listening to these stories, it’s real life . . . in a world that’s pretty troubled, to hear these acts of courage and then honour them, I think it makes the world spin a little easier on the axis today.”
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