Australia has been global news for all the wrong reasons. So it was a relief to hear a story of a boy’s courage and heroism in south-western Australia which has won admiration from all around the world.

The coastal waters of Australia are a playground. Swimming, boating, kayaking and fishing are the summer pastimes for millions of Australians. But those same waters are treacherous. Perfectly placid seas can become death traps in a minute.

A recreational kayaker myself, I once almost drowned in Melbourne’s Port Philip Bay when a gale struck from nowhere, whipping up vicious, choppy waves that almost capsized me. I barely made it back to safety from just one mile offshore. I was fortunate that I wasn’t blown further out into the bay or capsized, because I would never have survived. Others have not been so lucky.

But some have, amazingly so. Last Friday, a 13-year-old boy saved the lives of his family when the sea suddenly turned on them.

Quindalup is a sleepy holiday town about 150 miles south-west from Perth, on the edge of the famous Margaret River wine country. Last week, Irish-born mother Joanne Appelbee, and her three young children were enjoying themselves off the beach........

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