{"id":426511,"date":"2026-01-20T23:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T23:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/426511\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T23:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T23:51:16","slug":"father-of-piper-james-found-dead-surrounded-by-dingoes-on-kgari-shattered-by-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/426511\/","title":{"rendered":"Father of Piper James, found dead surrounded by dingoes on K’gari, shattered by loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The shattered father of a young woman found dead on a Queensland beach has paid tribute to his daughter’s adventurous spirit.<\/p>\n

Canadian Piper James was found on K’gari (Fraser Island), surrounded by a pack of dingoes, on Monday morning after telling friends she was going for an early morning swim.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old, who had been working on the island for about six weeks, left for a swim about 5am and was found by two men driving on the island’s eastern beach about an hour and a half later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ms James was found near the Maheno shipwreck. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Police said they could not confirm whether Ms James drowned or died as a result of being attacked by a dingo until after an autopsy, expected to be carried out today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Strength and determination’<\/p>\n

Ms James’ father, Todd James, issued a statement on social media today sharing his loss.<\/p>\n

“Our hearts are shattered as we share the tragic loss of our beautiful daughter,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We will always remember her infectious laugh and her kind spirit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I admired her strength and determination to go after her dreams.”<\/p>\n

He said she joked about his support for her travelling to Australia, telling him: “I’m 18 and you can’t stop me!”<\/p>\n

“Mostly, I loved hearing about and seeing the bonds and friendships she was developing as she grew into her beautiful self,” Mr James said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The father of Piper James who died on K’gari has paid tribute to his daughter on social media. (Supplied: Todd James)<\/p>\n

Mr James said his daughter worked for British Columbia’s firefighting service and posted images of her in a uniform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Piper would work hard so she could play hard,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So many are going to miss you, my precious little baby girl. Maybe gone, but how can we ever forget you?”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Piper James’ father, Todd, says she was proud of her work at BC Wildfire Services. (Supplied: Todd James)<\/p>\n

Ms James’s grandmother, Penny Vanalstine Marshall, said in a post on social media that words could not express how deeply Ms Piper would be cherished.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“She had a spirit of unbridled joy and courage,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Marshall said Ms James was “a beacon of strength and fearless adventure”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“She was also the most caring girl you could meet,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We will miss her terribly!”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Ms James was found near the Maheno shipwreck on the eastern side of K’gari. (ABC Wide Bay: James Taylor)<\/p>\n

Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour said yesterday that Ms James’ death had affected the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s very concerning. We’ve seen an increasing number of dingo attacks over the years, including increasing severity,” Cr Seymour said.<\/p>\n

“We are watching this very closely.”<\/p>\n

Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers have increased patrols on the island since the death and have temporarily closed a campsite near where Ms James was found.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The shattered father of a young woman found dead on a Queensland beach has paid tribute to his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,223896,223894,44,223893,223895],"class_list":["post-426511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-canadian-on-kgari","tag-kgari-dingoes","tag-news","tag-piper-james","tag-woman-and-dingoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}