DARWIN, Australia (AFP) -- A 40-year-old Aboriginal woman survived a crocodile attack in northern Australia by beating the giant reptile with a bag of mussels she had just collected, police said Monday.

The woman from the Pirlangimpi Aboriginal community was attacked by a saltwater crocodile in a creek on Sunday after she was separated from a group hunting for mud mussels on Melville Island, off the north Australia coast.

"The woman has told police she attempted to cross the creek early on Sunday night on the full tide but was attacked by a crocodile," a police spokeswoman said.

"The crocodile bit the woman on her back but she fought it off with her bag of mussels and climbed a large mangrove tree where she stayed overnight," she said.

The woman walked to safety early Monday and was reported by police to be "in good health and spirits" despite suffering lacerations to her upper back.

Saltwater crocodiles can reach lengths of seven meters (23 feet) and haunt northern Australian rivers and estuaries.

Ten people have been killed by the crocodiles in Australia since 1982, the most recent victim a 24-year-old German tourist taken in October 2002 as she swam with friends in a northern Australia national park.