Newcastle community reeling from death of doctor 03:53

This is a tragic, tragic story. A Newcastle doctor and father of three. His name is David Hogben. Now, he's been identified as the victim of a crocodile attack in a river in far north Queensland. Now, I thought some prayers, of course, with the Hogben family, but what a terrible story. Nine News reporter James Wilson is all over this one, and he joins me on the line. James, g'day. G'day.

G'day Chris. So what happened to David? What are the circumstances around the croc attack?

Well, it's just this afternoon that we're actually hearing a lot more detail around what unfolded on Saturday afternoon. And these details have partly come from David's wife, Jane. Through Jane's sister, Alexis Carey, is actually a reporter for 9news.com, but for news.com, I should say, rather. So this has come through her. It's one of those unfortunate circumstances where a reporter finds themselves knowing a victim that they're reporting on. But we have direct quotes from Jane, David's wife, who speaks about...

the 40-year-old going for a walk along the riverbank of the Annan River near Cooktown, right up far north Queensland, when the riverbank collapsed. They had some heavy rain in the last few weeks and he's collapsed and fallen about 15 metres into the riverbank. Now, Jane is quoted as saying she scrambled down the riverbank to try and pull him out of the water.

but watched him get taken by a crocodile in front of her eyes. And I'll read that direct quote out to you, Chris. Jane, David's wife, said, He saved me. His last act was to not pull me in with him. I'm glad I'm still here because it would have been a million-fold worse for everyone involved, not just my boys. And those three...

Those three young boys, Chris, all under the age of five, were only a few hundred metres away. Thank goodness they didn't witness this themselves, but obviously are feeling the after effects of it now and for the rest of their life. So what do we know about David? What were they doing up in Cooktown?

Well, they've been there a number of times in the past. They were on a holiday of a lifetime. David loved four-wheel driving and fishing and camping, and they were just on a family holiday. They'd posted photos, which we've now received, just days before doing what they do best, which is being outdoors and loving nature. And David wasn't naive or ignorant to the dangers that the far north Queensland rivers pose. He was

well-versed in camping and he wasn't doing anything silly or fishing, which other reports have suggested in the past few days, which is part of the reason why Jane, his wife, took to the media to clarify some of the details around this. Now, we heard yesterday that authorities actually shot a 4.9 metre saltwater crocodile up there. Today it's been confirmed that

human remains have been found inside that crocodile. And although they're not confirmed to be David's, you can put two and two together at this point. All right. David, a doctor from Newcastle. How are his colleagues feeling?

Yeah, so David and his wife Jane are actually both doctors and they work at the Jules Medical Centre, which is in the Lake Macquarie region. A lot of small communities up there, we've had reporters who've spoken to the Jules Medical Centre as well as another medical centre up in Windale. And obviously his colleagues are really, really upset. We spoke to

one of the GPs at the Jules Medical Centre. And I'll quote here, Chris, they said, he was a lovely, he was the most lovely, friendly, upbeat person and will be greatly missed by all of his colleagues and friends. We are devastated with sadness for David's wife, Jane. And these are similar remarks being felt all across the community. His friends, his family and local community members just cannot speak highly, you know, more highly of these beautiful people, Jane and his husband, David.

James Wilson, I appreciate you jumping on. Thanks so much. Thanks, Chris. Terrible story. James Wilson there from Nine News.