What is a shore dump?: Exploring Australian university students’ beach safety knowledge and their perceptions of Australian beach safety signage

•About 25% of domestic and 35% of international students never or only rarely read the signage on unfamiliar beaches.•Not only international students but also many domestic students do not appropriately understand safety terms and flags.•Some students who “understood” the terms had the wrong interpretation, especially of shore dump.•International students are less likely to understand beach safety terms than domestic students.•Direct translation of some safety terms needs to be reconsidered.