Stanley Frederick Gibbs - Albert Medal

Albert Medal

On 3 January 1927, Gibbs was out driving a launch at Port Hacking when he noticed Mervyn Allum struggling in the water. Thinking the youth was drowning, Gibbs made his way to the nose of the launch in order to give assistance to Allum. It was then that Gibbs realised Allum was being attacked by a shark, and he immediately dived into the water. By kicking and punching the shark, Gibbs managed to free Allum from its jaws. With the assistance of another man, Gibbs succeeded in lifting Allum out of the water and into a rowing boat. Due to his injuries, Allum died soon after.

For his actions during the incident, Gibbs was subsequently awarded the Albert Medal. The notification and accompanying citation for the decoration was published in the London Gazette on 8 February 1927, reading:

Board of Trade, Great George Street, London, S.W. 1. 7th February, 1927.

His Majesty The KING has been graciously pleased to confer the Decoration of the Albert Medal upon Stanley Gibbs of Sydney, New South Wales.

The following is an account of the services in respect of which the Decoration has been conferred:—

On the 3rd January, 1927, at Port Hacking near Sydney, New South Wales, a youth named Mervyn Allum was swimming a short distance from the shore when he was attacked by a large shark. It was at first thought that he was drowning, and Stanley Gibbs, who was standing on the nose of a launch he was driving, ready to give assistance to Allum, observed that he was being attacked by the shark. Gibbs dived from the launch and fought the shark with his hands and feet and eventually succeeded in getting Allum, who was very badly injured, from the jaws of the shark, and with the assistance of a man named Macdonald placed him in a rowing boat. The victim died of injuries shortly afterwards.