The death of a man who drowned in Tasmania’s Great Lake just days before New Year’s Eve in 2022 while attempting to retrieve his drifting dinghy has been ruled as a result of misadventure by a coroner.
Robert McEwen Dunlop, 50, drowned in the area of Boundary Bay at Great Lake on December 29, 2022, during a solo fishing trip in his “near new” aluminium dinghy.
In his recently published findings, Coroner Simon Cooper described Dunlop as an “adventurous man” who, despite being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2018, remained healthy, physically fit and employed as an arborist.
“He was described as a competent freshwater and ocean swimmer,” Cooper said.
“The evidence is that at about 12:40pm he returned to shore near to where he had parked his vehicle and boat trailer.”
“While he cooked himself some lunch on the rear tray of his ute it would appear that his dinghy, which had been left untethered but resting in shallow water on the shoreline, drifted away from the shore.”
Witnesses reported that Dunlop “stripped off his clothing to his underpants” and entered the water to swim around 200 metres to where his dinghy was drifting when he got into trouble.
“[A witness] described seeing him disappearing under the water near the boat,’ Cooper said.
Police were called and after a search involving the dive squad, rescue helicopter and a drone, Dunlop’s body was found in 9 metres of water the following morning.
An autopsy revealed no presence of alcohol or drugs in his system, no injuries or significant heart disease.
However, it indicated that his lungs were over-expanded, which the coroner said was “consistent with drowning”.
“There are no suspicious circumstances associated with Mr Dunlop’s death. I am satisfied that his death was the result of misadventure,” Cooper said.
