This masthead was told by a friend of James, Zane Egan, he had met the Canadian and her travelling companion at a backpackers hostel in Cairns late last year.
“We became really good friends, we were going out all the time, having fun,” he said in an interview.
Egan said he drove the two Canadians to Airlie Beach, stopping along the way, before they found work on the island.
Hervey Bay mayor George Seymour said the incident was devastating, and part of a trend showing dingoes on the island were becoming increasingly aggressive.
“Whatever the finding is – and we expect to know within the next 24 hours or so – for someone so young from overseas to lose their life in our community is a real tragedy,” he said on Tuesday.
“What we’re seeing over the last few years is a change in the behaviour … we’re seeing more attacks in different ways, like dingoes following people into the water and attacking them.
The woman was found north of the Maheno shipwreck on K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island. Credit: Alamy
“That’s something we hadn’t seen before.
“I think there needs to be a review of the approach.”
A person with knowledge of the investigation said James might have suffered defensive wounds, but the cause of her injuries was still being probed.
A postmortem to confirm a cause of death was planned for Wednesday, Seymour said.
Australian authorities made contact with her family with help from Interpol, and the High Commission of Canada released a statement on Tuesday morning.
“We are aware of the death of a citizen … and Canadian officials are providing consular assistance to the family,” it said.
“We extend our condolences to the family and loved ones.”
The woman was found north of the Maheno shipwreck, a famous landmark on the island that ran aground in 1935.
Management of dingoes on K’gari is contentious, with numerous attacks reported on the World Heritage-listed sand island each year.
At least four dingo attacks were reported on K’gari in 2025, including one on a nine-year-old boy near Yidney Rocks Beachfront Units and another on a woman who was bitten on the hand at the island’s Winnam camping area when she was approached by five dingoes.
The most prominent fatal attack occurred in April 2001, when nine-year-old Brisbane boy Clinton Gage was fatally mauled by two dingoes while holidaying on the island with his family.
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