SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian abalone diver attacked by a shark on Tuesday told rescuers he was partly swallowed head first by the great white shark but fought his way free, suffering a broken nose and bite marks around his chest.

The 25-year-old diver said he was underwater off Cape Howe near Eden on Australia's southeast coast when the shark attacked.

"He stated that he was head-first into the shark," a spokeswoman for Snowy Hydro SouthCare rescue service told Reuters after airlifting the diver to hospital.

"When he came to us he was conscious and alert but had a broken nose and lacerations to both sides of his torso and chest -- bite marks all the way around," the spokeswoman said.

"He believed it was a 9 foot (3 meter) white pointer. He said he fought it off," she said.

Attacks by Great White Sharks are usually fatal due to the massive size of the sharks, which breed in Australia's cold southern waters, and the sheer force of their bites.

Sharks, even Great Whites, are protected in Australia.

The other white meat