On the afternoon of Thursday, 8 October 2026, 36-year-old Lisa was driving a blue Subaru Tribeca along McDonald Road in Tinana South, near Maryborough on Queensland’s Fraser Coast. She was heading into Maryborough to collect other children from school. The vehicle left the roadway, crashed through a fence, and plunged into a dam on a neighbouring property. The car was not discovered for several hours. The property owner found it submerged upside down and entered the water in an attempt to rescue the occupants.
Emergency services responded after Steven James, Lisa’s partner and the father of 10-year-old Arliyah James, became concerned when the school reported that the children had not been collected. Both Lisa and Arliyah were pulled from the vehicle but could not be revived and were declared ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at the scene. A farmer who lives on the property has described getting into the water and pulling them both out before calling emergency services. Steven James was at the scene when police attended.
Arliyah’s mother, Sarah Gorman, described her daughter as her “wild child,” the one who kept her on her toes and made all their hearts burst with love. In a public tribute she wrote: “Love you all the way below the fishes and all the way up, up above with the clouds where you now are our lil angel. My heart will forever be missing its beat my baby. I love you so much, I’m so sorry my baby.” Relatives and friends remembered Arliyah as beautiful, happy, always-smiling, full of life and energy, a down-to-earth little girl whose smile would never be forgotten. Lisa was recalled as a loving partner, cherished mother, daughter, sister, and friend.
Steven James launched a GoFundMe in their memory, stating that in an instant a loving partner and a beautiful young life full of promise were gone far too soon. The appeal noted the impact on Lisa’s surviving children Rubie, Aaden, Tyler, and Cooper. A separate fundraiser organised by Arliyah’s great-aunt and great-uncle sought to give her a loving send-off surrounded by her favourite things. Both campaigns attracted thousands of dollars within days as the Tinana and Maryborough communities rallied.
Queensland authorities treated the incident as a fatal traffic 𝔠r𝘢sh under investigation. The 𝔠r𝘢sh occurred during what should have been an ordinary school-run afternoon, only a short distance from where the journey began. The delayed discovery of the submerged vehicle added to the shock. Local police have spoken publicly about the number of preventable road deaths in the region this year. The tributes from Arliyah’s mother, the rapid community fundraising, and the fact that the pair were on a routine trip to collect other children have caused the story to circulate widely beyond the Fraser Coast.
