WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Ginger Meadows, 24, had been inspired to visit the Australian Outback after watching the classic movie Crocodile Dundee, but her trip with friend Jane Burchett ended in tragedy at King’s Cascade waterfall
Captivated by the film ‘Crocodile Dundee’, American model Ginger Meadows embarked on an adventure to the Australian Outback to experience it firsthand, but her journey culminated in a horrific tragedy.
The 24-year-old was from Snowmass Village in Colorado, a renowned ski destination vastly contrasting with Darwin’s arid landscape in the Northern Territory.
On March 29, 1987, she and her companion Jane Burchett ventured out to visit King’s Cascade aboard a luxury vessel called Lady G.
Following their Australian adventure, the duo had planned to continue their travels to Papua New Guinea. The boat was captained by Bruce Fitzpatrick, with just a handful of additional crew members present when they reached the stunning waterfall, an area infamous for its crocodile population.
Despite explicit warnings about the dangerous creatures lurking in the water, Ginger and Jane chose to take the plunge and enjoy a brief dip regardless. The skipper quickly spotted what appeared to be a four-metre saltwater crocodile slowly advancing towards the two oblivious women.
Within moments, they became stranded waist-deep against the waterfall’s rocky face. Jane later recounted the terrifying ordeal that befell Ginger.
“It swam right up to us and had its mouth open. Then I took my shoe off and threw it at it and hit it on the top of its head and it closed its mouth. Because the crocodile was in front of us maybe she thought she could swim to the shoreline and get away,” she said.
However, Ginger’s attempt to outswim the colossal creature proved futile, landing her in a dire predicament.
Jane said: “She let go of my arm, jumped off the ledge, took two strokes and it grabbed her around the waist and pulled her right under the water. Then he pulled her up out of the water right in front of me – I looked her right in the face, she had her arms in the air and she was looking right at me. Then it pulled her back under the water.”
Ginger’s body was discovered the next day, tragically coinciding with her 25th birthday. Chief Inspector Arnold Davies from the regional police station in the Port of Broome revealed that her remains were placed in a body bag and positioned at the front of a 23-foot rescue boat.
“After travelling 15 kilometers (9 miles) up to the mouth of the river, a large crocodile leapt out of the water about four feet and snapped the end of the body bag, trying to tear it,” he disclosed. The boat crew braced for another potential attack as the crocodile vanished beneath the water, but no further incidents occurred.
Meadows’ estranged husband, Dwayne McCaulley, then aged 27, travelled to identify her remains. In a 2017 interview with the Daily Mail, Bruce recalled cautioning the model against entering the water.
“We were aware there were crocodiles in the area. And before we went Ginger was told to not so much as dangle a foot in the water,” he stated. Ginger’s tragic death stands as one of Australia’s most notorious crocodile attacks.
According to research from Charles Darwin University published in 2024, the Northern Territory recorded 76 crocodile attacks between 1979 and 2022, with 30% proving fatal.
