A little miracle from Magheracloone to Australia
Boy (13) hailed a hero after dramatic sea rescue
“I was going to keep it all very quiet and now it’s everywhere! We’re all still alive that’s the main thing,” Joanne Appelbee told the Celt last week.
The Magheracloone native is trying to get back to normal life this week after her family made international headlines following a dramatic sea rescue more than eight miles off the coast of Western Australia.
Joanne and her three children Austin (13), Beau (12) and Grace (8) from Perth were on vacation and enjoying a morning at Quindalup Beach when disaster struck.
Amazingly, the Celt can reveal, that while Joanne was praying for a miracle during their 10-hour ordeal, her mum Doreen Cunningham in Magheracloone got a feeling that something was wrong and lit a candle for her little family who were battling for survival on the other side of the world.
The Appelbees had hired a small kayak and paddle boards to enjoy the shallow waters of Geographe Bay. They all had life jackets. However, the wind and waves suddenly picked up and Joanne and her kids found themselves battling to get back towards shore but drifting further out to sea. It quickly became a life-or-death situation.
Mum Joanne made “one of the hardest decisions” and allowed her eldest son Austin to leave them and try to make his way in to get help. They were about 4km out at this stage. But Joanne knew he was their best chance and had faith “he could do it”.
Against strong winds and waves, and making little or no progress, brave Austin was forced to abandon his kayak and eventually his life jacket - to raise the alarm.
It took him four hours to reach the shore, where he collapsed with exhaustion. But adrenaline kicked in and Austin found the strength to get up again and run approximately 2km to a phone.
When eventually rescued by the Coast Guard, the family had been around 10 hours on the water, were more than eight miles from the shore and in pitch dark clinging to paddle boards.
Joanne admits that her life flashed before her eyes “many times over” during the ordeal and how hope faded when night fell.
“In my head, I was saying: ‘Keep them alive, they’ll be safe any minute now. I’m hoping for the best here!’ And then the sun went down,” she said in her distinct south Monaghan accent.
“We fell in [to the water] so many times, the waves were so high and those kids just kept holding on,” said Joanne full of praise for her “little heroes” Beau and Grace.
Thankfully the story had a happy ending. Seeing the rescue team and hearing that Austin had made it to shore was the “most fantastic feeling”.
Joanne admits experiencing mixed emotions during and even since the rescue. “I was so elated that we were alive. I’m exhausted, I’ve had two-hours’ sleep since I got home here on Sunday night. We made it. I can’t believe I’m home. I was told to make everything normal for the kids. I was starting a new position; I put that off for the week because I’m very badly burnt.”
She added that Austin also wanted to go to school last week, but he too is still recovering from his heroic dash to save his family.
The mother of three explained how she ended up making a life for herself in Australia. In 2003, having completed an advanced cookery course in Galway Institute of Technology, she went to Lyon, France, to take part in a competition. While there, Joanne met Justin Appelbee, her future husband, in a club.
She ended up moving to Perth permanently later that same year. They got married in Monaghan in 2006 and later had children Austin, Beau and Grace. The couple separated last year, but remain friends.
The Appelbees last visited Magheracloone just before Covid hit. Joanne had aspirations to come back to Ireland every four years, but this is the longest stretch she’s gone without coming home. Even the children call Magheracloone home.
Thankfully, Joanne’s mother Doreen came to visit a couple of years ago, after a win at bingo.
A candle lit
After such a life-altering and affirming event, Joanne was asked if she believes in God, and she does: “I looked up at the sky, I remember, because I couldn’t see any planes... the Irish came out in me, I went, ‘Jesus, Doreen, Mammy, please will you light the holy candle?’”
Incredibly, approximately 15,225 kilometres away, Doreen Cunningham got the telepathic message and lit the holy candle. She told the Celt that she got a feeling something was wrong and said to herself that, if she lit the candle, everything would be okay. The next day Joanne called her with the shocking news.
Doreen hailed the rescue prompted by her brave grandson Austin, as “a real-life miracle”.
Joanne revealed how it’s next to impossible to make her father Packie cry. “My dad came on the phone and it came on the TV while he was talking to me and he said, ‘Oh, Jesus!’ and he began to cry.”
Her siblings, who all still live in Ireland, are equally relieved. They are Donal better known as ‘Jazz,’ Adrian and Ashlene.
Not a day goes by when Joanne doesn’t miss Monaghan and Ireland for the culture, craic and sarcasm: “My accent never left. It’s as strong as it was. Over there, they’ll probably say ‘she’s got a twang.’ I don’t!… No matter how long you’re gone, it’s home, it always will be.”