Steve Irwin, the khaki-clad Australian known to millions as “The Crocodile Hunter,” died at just 44 after being fatally injured by a stingray while filming a documentary off Queensland’s coast. Twenty years ago, on September 4, 2006, the world lost one of its most recognisable wildlife champions.Two decades later, his name is still instantly recognisable, remembered as a man wrestling a crocodile with a grin on his face, shouting “Crikey!” to a television camera.But who was this courageous and animal-loving braveheart whose family has kept that mission alive through Australia Zoo and the charity Wildlife Warriors, carrying forward the very goals he had mapped out just weeks before he died?
Who was Steve Irwin, popularly known as the crocodile hunter
Stephen Robert Irwin was born on February 22, 1962, in Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria, according to Australia Zoo’s official biography of its founder. His parents, Bob and Lyn Irwin, later moved the family to Beerwah, Queensland, where in 1970, they opened a small wildlife sanctuary that eventually grew into one of the world’s best-known zoos. Initially, it covered less than a hectare and cared mainly for orphaned and injured native animals.Steve’s fascination with reptiles was quite visible as soon as he could walk. According to Australia Zoo, he caught his first venomous snake, a common brown, at just six years old, and would regularly convince his mother to stop the car so he could rescue a lizard off the road, even if it made him late for school.By nine, he was already wrestling small crocodiles at boat ramps, hauling them into dinghies with his parents nearby. He took part in the park’s daily animal care from a young age and, on his sixth birthday, received a 12-foot scrub python as a gift.
He helped the government solve crocodile problems
The park was renamed Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park by 1980, and Steve spent a long time living in remote far-north Queensland, trapping problem crocodiles for the state government, a job he did with a small dog for company. He is often noted for helping develop crocodile capture techniques still used around the world today.
How the documentary ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ made them famous crocodile
Steve’s life changed direction on October 6, 1991, when he met an American tourist named Terri Raines. They married in Oregon on June 4, 1992, and rather than a conventional honeymoon, filmed themselves relocating a problem crocodile in the Queensland outback.That footage became the basis of The Crocodile Hunter, the documentary series that turned Steve and Terri into household names worldwide. In 1998, the couple renamed the park Australia Zoo, built around Steve’s guiding idea of “Conservation Through Exciting Education.”
He wanted to be remembered as a ‘good dad’
Steve and Terri had two children, Bindi and Robert, and by all accounts, fatherhood mattered to him as much as fame. He often said that if he were remembered for anything, he hoped it would be for being a good dad.In July 2006, Steve and Terri laid out a ten-year plan for the zoo’s future. Two months later, on September 4, 2006, Steve died after a stingray barb pierced his chest while he filmed near the Great Barrier Reef.Shortly before his death, Irwin said to his fans, “I have a message for my fans. Whatever you want to do in this world, it is achievable. The most important thing that I’ve found, that perhaps you could use, is to be passionate and enthusiastic in the direction that you choose in life, and you’ll be a winner.”
