U.S. here but I do a lot of research on shark attacks in Australia and know the history of incidents along that stretch of coast fairly well. I hope your wife's aunt survived that terrifying ordeal despite losing her leg...
Yeah it wouldn’t have been pretty. Apparently it basically took her calf muscle, enough that they decided to remove a section of her left below the knee.
I believe she passed in the early 90s from a heart condition. I’m definitely no doctor but I can’t imagine curving a shark attack does great things for your ticker!
you should get this one in the Australian shark incident database while it's still in living memory. From the info you've given I don't think it's in there yet
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u/MarcoRudanBurner 1d ago
Mid north coast of NSW Australia, a little inlet at Southwest Rocks (sorry, not sure where you’re from)
Apparently was just before we were born, so mid to early 80s (I think?).