SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian swimmer survived a great white shark attack by poking the creature in the eyes as it dragged him through the water after badly savaging his left leg.

Jason Cull was swimming off a beach on Australia's southwest coast on Sunday when the four meter (12 feet) shark attacked.

"Initially I thought it was a dolphin," Cull told The Australian newspaper on Monday. "I just remember being dragged along backwards. I was trying to feel its gills but I found its eye and I stuck my finger in and that's when it let go."

The shark tore two chunks from Cull's left leg, ripping off half his calf and leaving him with deep lacerations to his knee and thigh. A local surf lifesaver heard Cull, 37, screaming and raced into the surf to rescue him.

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An Australian teenage surfer was killed in a shark attack in April. Sharks are protected in Australia and attacks on humans are relatively rare, despite the country's huge coastline.

Around 42 percent of attacks involve surfers or windsurfers, according to the U.S.-based International Shark Attack File. Australia had 12 shark attacks in 2007, none of them fatal, among 71 shark attacks worldwide that year.

(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by David Fox)