The death of 63-year-old Tathra resident Christine Armstrong was only the most recent tragedy in the area. In 2008 a 28-year-old father drowned nearby attempting to save his two young sons. Shane O'Neill, a butcher from Kalaru, south-west of Bega, was fishing off the wharf with his boys one night in November when Riley, 4, and Travis, 15 months, fell five metres from the wharf into the choppy water below.

Mr O'Neill dived in to save the boys but the night ended in tragedy and despair for Mr O'Neill's 24-year-old fiancee Stacey Lambert, who lost her partner and her two sons. The tragedy sent shock waves through the community and an outpouring of grief that was represented by the many flowers and tributes to Mr O'Neill and his boys left on the wharf.

Christine Armstrong's shark attack death was the second tragedy to strike the beachside town in just over six months, after a teenager drowned near the town late last year.

A 19-year-old man from Bega drowned when swimming with five friends at the entrance to Bega River near Tathra in October last year. Two of the group were dragged into deeper water by an outgoing tide and only one was able to be rescued by surf life saving teams. Life Saving for the Far South Coast director Andrew Edmunds said on Thursday the number of tragedies in this area was hard for the community to take.

''It's a lovely spot and a lovely bit of coast and it's just such a tragic shock,'' he said.

''There was the Tathra Wharf tragedy in 2008 where three people drowned and earlier in the year we had … a 19-year-old male drowned, so unfortunately there have been a number of tragedies.

''I don't want to portray this as an unsafe beach, it's a beautiful beach … but sadly sometimes tragic accidents do occur.''