Sydney  - An Australian schoolgirl dragged under the water twice by a five-metre great white shark won high praise Monday from her saviour.

"She came up and she was fighting the shark and hitting it and screaming, 'Help me, help me, help me'," Syb Mundy, 33, told Tasmania's Examiner a day after the attack. "She gave me the strength to stay there with her in the water when I saw the way she was fighting it off."

Hannah Mighall, 13, is in a Hobart hospital being treated for gashes to her leg.

Mundy, the victim's cousin and surfing partner at Tasmania's Binnalong Bay, was also applauded for his bravery in paddling out when there was blood in the water.

"Her cousin was brilliant. I can't give him enough praise. He literally pulled her out of the shark's jaws and saved her life," said Ian Hollingworth, who was surfing 30 metres away. "He was fighting the shark and fighting to grab hold of her. It was like something out of a Jaws movie. It was just terrible."

Mighall's injuries were far less serious than those a smaller shark inflicted on 31-year-old Jono Beard 1,500 kilometres away at Fingal Head on the east coast in an attack that also occurred on Sunday afternoon.

Beard was 70 metres from shore when a shark bit a 40-centimetre by 10-centimetre flap in his thigh.

Justin Warren said his surfing pal, who is now in a Gold Coast hospital, was a hero for staying on his board and making it to shore.

"That was the most horrific time, not knowing if he would get hit again," Warren said. "It was about a 3-4 minute paddle."

Beard will be in hospital for a week and will take months to recover full movement in his leg. (dpa)