British woman dies in Australia after falling off cliff near Sydney

Madalyn Davis, 21, from Lincoln, England, fell to her death from a cliff in Vaucluse, Sydney
Madalyn Davis, 21, from Lincoln, England, fell to her death from a cliff in Vaucluse, Sydney

A British backpacker and social media influencer has died after falling off a cliff known to be a popular selfie spot in Sydney, Australia.

Madalyn Davis, a 21-year-old makeup artist, is believed to have gone to the Diamond Bay cliff tops with seven of her friends on Sunday morning following a party nearby in the wealthy suburb of Vaucluse.

Ms Davis, originally from Lincolnshire, scaled a security fence with her friends to access the more dangerous parts of the 30-metre cliffs near Dover Heights, local media have reported.

Her body was recovered by emergency services from the water below at around 10:30am after an intensive air and water search, New South Wales Police confirmed.

According to family friends, it is unclear whether Davis took the picture herself or if one of her friends did.

The local Waverley Council last year said they were considering increasing ranger patrols and installing more CCTV in the area amid fears that tourists were endangering themselves by climbing over the cliff edge for the perfect picture.

Concerns were raised after a 27-year-old woman fell to her death while posing for a photo in the same location in August.

Emergency services were called to Diamond Bay Reserve, in Vaucluse, at about 6am on Sunday following reports of a woman falling off the clifftops - Credit: Alamy/EyeEm
Emergency services were called to Diamond Bay Reserve, in Vaucluse, at about 6am on Sunday following reports of a woman falling off the clifftops Credit: Alamy/EyeEm

Ms Davis, who had around 15,000 followers on Instagram, was a successful make-up artist, offering online tutorials on her YouTube channel as well as selling beauty products to her growing audience online.

She had only been in Australia for a few weeks after travelling through Thailand and Bali, according to her social media accounts, but had told friends she had no plans to return to Britain as she was having the “best time”.

On Sunday afternoon, her mother, Rebecca Smith, went online to ask her daughter's friends to look for her after becoming concerned as to why she was not answering her phone.

Her family confirmed that Ms Davis had died by Monday morning and thanked her friends for the kind words they posted on social media in tribute to her passing.

One friend wrote: “You were an incredibly beautiful model and talented artists giving so much colour to the world. You were so fun to be with that so many people have so many great stories and memories they tell about you, you will be so very sorely missed.”