FROM THE ARCHIVES: Shark sightings of the Hunter in photos

Bob Woodcock set a state record in 1981 with his 785kg great white shark caught on a 36kg line.

Date and location unknown.

Page one of the Newcastle Post, January 29, 1992. Photo: Grahame Marjoribanks.

A thrasher shark from Cowrie Hole in 1954.George Southern, Elsie Southern, Sailor Hopkins, Peter Walmsley

Cessnock game fisherman Paul Besoff, 20, spent an anxious night at Shoal Bay wharf last night guarding his prize possesion, a 1200lb plus tiger shark, he hopes will be ratified as a world record. Photo by George Steele, April 25, 1977.

A fishermen netted this ferocious looking fellow of Nelson Bay in August, 1971. It was later identified as a Sawshark.

Big Bitie caught Gil Noble of Pelican with the 12'3" Tiger shark on April 23, 1984. Photo: Mick Dawson.

Karyn Heyward 16, of Blakehurst with 432kg White Pointer Shark, caught by Peter Thompson of Coal Point on a 36kg line on February 25, 1979. Photo taken at the Shoal Bay weigh in.

Troy Grieves of Caves Beach with the 319kg whaler shark he caught on March 18, 1984. Photo: Ken Robson at Pelican Marina.

Weigh in for the Womens Day In Game Fishing Competition Pictured is Gina Rees of Budgewoi with a 162kg Tiger Shark at Nelson Bay public wharf on February 27, 1991.

Shark mesh contactor Darryl Sullivan with a tiger shark netted off Merewether at police wharf on October 26, 1983. Photo: David Johns

Scott Graham, 11, of Swansea Heads with a Hammerhead shark meshed off the coast. Photo: David Wicks.

A Tiger shark caught by Hans Zimmerman off Port Stephens. Photo published on April 3, 1990.

Mick Wright with his 395kg Maco at Swansea weigh in on October 8, 1988. Photo: Dean Osland.

Perry James, 19, of Merewether, with the tiger shark he caught off Swansea on April 25, 1978.

Myuna Bay Fitness Camp principal Murray Scoble with shark jaws, taken on November 11, 1988.

319kg Whaler Shark caught by Michael Gleghorn, 23 of Bellbird. Caught about nine mile out from Port Stephens on a 24kg line. Michael is pictured with the rod he used. Photo taken September 20, 1987.

J Pickles of Nelsen Bay with a 762lbs Mako Shark in February 1963.

Hans Meyer with his record Tiger Shark, weighing 487kg. Taken at Swansea on April 26, 1986.

Paul Temperley of Elenmore Vale with his catch, a 291kg Tiger Shark in his boat, Boat Hot Tuna in the Big Game Fishing Competition. Photo: Anita Jones, March 1, 1992 at Nelson Bay.

Lake Macquarie Game Fishing Club weigh in Fish & Shark Tournament. Boat crew: Michael Richards, (Marks Point). Angler: Glen Kirkwood, (Swansea). Greg Harrison, (Belmont), on September 29, 1992 at Swansea. Photo: Dean Osland.

World record Mako shark caught, 329kg on a 10kg line. Gary Spruce, (Boat Skipper). Neil Williamson of Cambridge Hills, on November 25, 1979 at Pelican Boat Shed. Photo: David Wicks.

Flashback to March 1984. A Big White Pointer swallows 80kg shark almost whole (in two gulps).

Chris Clarke of the Fish Bowl framed in Tiger shark jaws at the Fish Bowl Charlestown Square on August 11, 1983.

Angler Mick Wright with a huge Mako Shark caught off Norah Head. (318kg) on October 3, 1993.

Scott Fitzsimons with his world record shark catch, on October 2, 1988. Photo taken at Swansea Weigh Station.

Perry James, 19 of Merewether with a tiger shark he caught off Swansea on April 25, 1978. Photo: C. Brodie.

Game Fishing Champ. 186kg Tiger Shark from boat "Down Under" on February 27, 1993. Place taken: Nelson Bay

Brothers Joe and Dominic Bagnato with a four-metre Grey Nurse shark. Phoo taken on July 23, 1986 at Fishermans Co-op, by John Herrett.

Weigh in for the Womens Day In Game Fishing Competition. Gina Rees of Budgewoi with a 162kg Tiger shark. Taken on February 27, 1991 at Nelson Bay.

Robyn Spruce with the jaws of her world record breaking shark. Photo taken at Belmont on December 10, 1980.

319kg Whaler Shark caught by Michael Gleghorn, 23 of Bellbird. Caught about nine mile out from Port Stephens on a 24kg line. Michael is pictured with the rod he used. Photo taken at New Marina, Nelson Bay, on September 20, 1987.

Neville James of Swansea caught this 273kg Tiger Shark off Catherine Hill Bay, at 1.30pm on April 8, 1979. It took him six hours to land it onto his boat Gari-Lee. He caught it on a 50lb line.

Mick Middleton with a Whaler Shark 185kg shark caught on 15kg line on June 30, 1989.

Brett Remington with a 121kg thresher shark on June 29, 1981.

Derek Henon caught this world-record hammerhead shark on January 5, 1986. The 208kg shark was taken on a 15kg line and took more than two hours to bring alongside boat. It was hooked about 10 km east of Port Macquarie. The previous best was 198.22kg caught off Port Stephens in 1982.

Jason Malowey (left) and Brad Thompson on January 5, 1989.

This article, published on January 23, 1988, detailed 15 shark attacks since the turn of the century.

Nathan Ghosn, 12, at Nelson Bay.

Sharks of Dudley Beach, taken February 27, 1997. Photo: Grahame Marjoribanks.

Belmont baths in the 1960's. Photo: Damon Cronshaw.

Shark attack at Evans Head on January 4, 1989.

Two sharks in Newcastle. Date unknown.

Shark caught. Myuna Bay. Date unknown.

Deckhand from Alice L, Brian Craig pulls a small shark into the dinghy off Bar Beach. Photo: Ron Bell, January 15, 1998.

Shark meshing boat Alice L in Newcastle Harbour. Photo: Ron Bell, January 15, 1998.

Sharks of Dudley Beach, taken February 27, 1997. Photo: Grahame Marjoribanks.

Sharks of Dudley Beach, taken February 27, 1997. Photo: Grahame Marjoribanks.

Sharks of Dudley Beach, taken February 27, 1997. Photo: Grahame Marjoribanks.

Sharks of Dudley Beach, taken February 27, 1997. Photo: Grahame Marjoribanks.

IN A week where Newcastle's Nobbys Beach was closed for several days due to shark sightings and a woman was mauled in Sydney Harbour, we are reminded that we're not the only ones in the water.

A dig through the photographic archives proves Hunter fishermen and surfers have long had a relationship with sharks, who herald a healthy ecosystem beneath the surface.

Take a look in the gallery above.

Shark researcher Nicolas Lubitz has also visited the region this month tracking bull sharks.

He is targeting juvenile bull sharks that live upstream for the first two years of their life.

The project, which includes all of the major river systems between Cairns and Sydney, aims to gather genetic information from the juvenile sharks that can be used to track their parents along the east coast.

"We have been following about 150 adults that have tracking devices on them between southern NSW and northern Queensland," Dr Lubitz, who recently completed a PhD on movement drivers in sharks and rays at James Cook University, said.

"With the genetic samples (taken from the juvenile sharks) we want to figure out whether they come back to the same rivers to give birth, sort of like turtles do with their nesting beaches."

Hunter residents are no strangers to interactions with bull sharks, with dozens of encounters reported around Newcastle Harbour and Lake Macquarie over the decades.