{"id":463473,"date":"2026-02-07T02:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T02:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463473\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T02:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T02:09:13","slug":"family-from-netherlands-calls-for-change-after-27yo-dies-of-suspected-heatstroke-in-remote-wa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463473\/","title":{"rendered":"Family from Netherlands calls for change after 27yo dies of suspected heatstroke in remote WA"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a family’s worst nightmare, delivered by telephone from the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

“I really couldn’t believe it,” Brandon De Wildt said.<\/p>\n

“Because it’s so sudden, I thought it was a really sick joke.”<\/p>\n

Mr De Wildt’s sister, Tiffani, had moved to Western Australia from the Netherlands six years prior.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tiffani Phelps de Wildt worked as a jillaroo. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

She divided her time between Esperance on the state’s south coast and Ashburton Downs, a vast Pilbara pastoral station where she worked casually as a jillaroo.<\/p>\n

On December 10, 2025, she was mustering cattle on horseback when she began to complain of exhaustion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tiffani Phelps De Wildt had no pre-existing health complications, according to her family. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Her colleagues sat her in the shadow of her horse, radioed her husband, and took her to the nearest road.<\/p>\n

“Corey [her husband] came from the station and they met together on the freeway … then he drove as fast as he possibly could to the hospital,” Mr De Wildt said.<\/p>\n

“She lost consciousness in the car, then he stopped, he took her out of the car and gave her CPR.<\/p>\n

“We know she said some words in Dutch, and her husband isn’t too good at Dutch.<\/p>\n

“So nobody could hear her last words.”Suspected heatstroke<\/p>\n

Tiffani Phelps De Wildt was found unresponsive by paramedics on the Paraburdoo-Tom Price Highway, 30 kilometres from the nearest medical centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was 27 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tiffani Phelps de Wildt had lived in Australia for six years and was recently married. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“What the paramedics said at the scene was that it could possibly be heatstroke,” Mr De Wildt said.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology recorded a maximum temperature of 44.8 degrees Celsius in Paraburdoo, the nearest town, on the day Ms Phelps De Wildt died.<\/p>\n

It was the hottest day of December 2025.<\/p>\n

“They advised her not to go [out], but she really wanted to go for the animals,” Mr De Wildt said.<\/p>\n

“My sister is who she is and she likes to be outside, and she loves the animals.”<\/p>\n

Investigation ongoing<\/p>\n

WorkSafe is investigating the incident, a process that can take up to two years.<\/p>\n

WA Police said it was not treating Ms De Wildt’s death as suspicious, but it was preparing a report for the coroner.<\/p>\n

Ashburton Downs could not be reached for comment. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tiffani Phelps De Wildt’s brother says she was a keen horseback rider who adored animals. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr De Wildt said an initial autopsy was done, but further testing was set to occur in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Most of her remains were released to her family, who travelled to WA to hold a funeral shortly before Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

“The ashes are split in half, so half of it stays in Australia, because she moved there and she really liked the country, the freedom that you guys have there.<\/p>\n

“We don’t want to take all of her back home.”Everyone susceptible to heat<\/p>\n

Ms Phelps De Wildt’s death has not been reported in the Australian media until now.<\/p>\n

“If she told us that she was going out on such a hot day, we would obviously rule against it, like her colleagues also did,” Mr De Wildt said.<\/p>\n

He said more should be done to protect\u00a0workers vulnerable to extreme temperatures.<\/p>\n

How to avoid heatstroke and when to call Triple Zero<\/a><\/p>\n

Extreme heat forecast for the next few days has prompted warnings form health experts. Here’s how to stay safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

St John WA acting head of medicine Andy Bell called Ms Phelps De Wildt’s death an “absolute tragedy”.<\/p>\n

“This is a classic case of somebody who was working in a very, very hot environment; they were displaying signs and symptoms of heat-related illness,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And because of the tyranny of distance … particularly in rural Western Australia, it’s very, very difficult for people to get to the help that they need in a timeframe that would be most appropriate.<\/p>\n

“This was a young, fit, healthy woman, and she was still susceptible to this type of environment.”\"A<\/p>\n

Andy Bell warns it is not just the very young and old who are vulnerable to heat stress. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)<\/p>\n

No ‘tools down’ temperature<\/p>\n

Safe Farms WA chief executive Stephen Brown said a sudden death such as Ms Phelps De Wildt’s was felt across the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n

“All the workers, all her friends, her family, wherever they may be, and the word gets out to other stations and it just ripples right across the whole industry,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Brown said more should be done to educate people about heat.<\/p>\n

“A dry, hot heat of 45 degrees, which is measured on a back verandah, is a lot different to 45 degrees out in a paddock, or out on a pastoral station somewhere, with the sun beating down on you,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Stephen Brown says a “tools down” temperature should be considered. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Australian Council of Trade Unions issued a call for national safety rules that require employers to stop or change duties when temperatures reach dangerous levels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Brown said while a blanket policy might be impractical, a responsibility to assess the risks remained.<\/p>\n

“The building industry has it in Perth, the wharfies have it, [it] gets to a certain temperature and it’s down tools for the day,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Not quite that simple in agriculture, I appreciate, but I think there has to be a temperature when the risk is just too great to the farm owner, farm manager or pastoral lease owner and also to the workers.”<\/p>\n

A ‘wonderful’ sister remembered<\/p>\n

It comes as parts of WA’s north continue to face brutal heat, with a severe heatwave in place until Sunday for the Gascoyne and Central West.<\/p>\n

Mr De Wildt said he hoped his sister’s story might help others facing tough conditions and that her memory would have a lasting impact.<\/p>\n

“Tiffani … was a wonderful person,” he said.<\/p>\n

“She has a really kind smile, one of those that when you when you see her, you smile yourself.<\/p>\n

“She loved everything that lives.”\"A<\/p>\n

Tiffani Phelps de Wildt’s family hopes her story will prompt change. (Supplied)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a family’s worst nightmare, delivered by telephone from the other side of the world. “I really…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,66383,68,237647,237646,193699,237649,3286,237648,16255,44,16802],"class_list":["post-463473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cattle-station","tag-climate-change","tag-farm-death","tag-heat-death","tag-heat-policy","tag-heatstroke","tag-heatwave","tag-jillaroo","tag-netherlands","tag-news","tag-pilbara-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463473","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=463473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}