Loss of an Australian icon

Stephen Robert Irwin was born to Lyn and Bob Irwin in Victoria in February 1962. Bob Irwin was a keen enthusiast of reptiles and moved his family to Queensland in 1970 to start a small reptile park at Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast. Australia Zoo became a true family business, flourishing until 1991 when Bob & Lyn retired, turning over management to their son, Steve.

Living in the Zoo, Steve grew up with animals of all kinds, taking part in the animals daily feeding, care and maintenance. His 6th birthday present was what he had always wanted - his very own scrub python! It was 3.6m (12ft) long and while most other children were opening cans of pet food for their cats or dogs, Steve was out catching fish and hunting rodents to feed to his crocodiles and snakes.

Bob taught the young Steve everything there was to know about reptiles - even teaching his nine-year-old how to jump in and catch crocodiles in the rivers of North Queensland at night.

This father and son's proud boast is that every crocodile in their Zoo (the numbering some 100 animals) was either caught by their bare hands or bred and raised in their Zoo.

As he grew older Steve followed in his father's footsteps and volunteered his services to the Queensland Governments East Coast Crocodile Management program which saw him spend years living on his own in the mosquito infested creeks, rivers and mangroves of North Queensland catching huge crocodiles single-handed. His record of successful catches is still staggering to this day.

Since 1991, Australia Zoo has flourished and expanded under Steve's guidance. In 1990 a chance reunion with his friend, television producer John Stainton, filming in the Zoo for a TV commercial, gave Steve the opportunity to show his diverse animal talents to the world when they both took a punt and make the first documentary, "The Crocodile Hunter" in 1992.

The tremendous success of this one program quickly encouraged the making of more and so over the next 3 years, 10 one hour episodes were made and on television screens all over the world. If you've never come across Steve Irwin on the small screen chasing crocs along the banks of a river then you are in for something of a shock. This is a man who redefines the word enthusiastic.

Every sentence the Australian speaks sounds as though it ends with an exclamation mark, he can regale you with story after story about escaping from fierce snakes, reptiles and rhinos and he actually uses words such as 'Sheila' and 'Fair Dinkum'.

He may sound a little extreme for our English sensibilities, but spend ten minutes in the company of this renowned conservationist and you will easily be won over by his charm, his down-to-earth nature and his positive outlook on life.

At London Zoo to promote his first foray into the movie business, he has good reason to be happy. His movie Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course opened in the United States up against the might of the summer blockbuster Men in Black II. It took a hefty $10m in its opening weekend.

Not bad for a boy from the bush.Not that the movie was a cinch to make. The prospect of filming in remote locations with some of the world's most dangerous animals was anathema to the big Hollywood studios who were keen to use CGI animals.

But for Irwin this was never going to be the case. "We got around the biggest hurdle known to man by using big, wildcore crocs", he explains, "and with crocs you have to use a lot of cameras. You just can't tell a croc that this is Take One, Take Two and Take Three".

The filming process was not without its problems either. Steve's mother was tragically killed in a car accident halfway during the production, but even so the feisty Antipodean manages to see light at the end of the tunnel. "The movie is basically a tribute to her. She really wanted us to make a movie the whole family could get excited about. We wanted to give something very positive to the world."

Indeed positive could be Irwin's middle name. Even on the often dark subject of the future of the planet he is upbeat. "I am optimistic globally. So many scientists are working frantically on the reparation of our planet.

Unfortunately there are countries who are still destroying it, but we really hope the conservation message rubs off in our film. Every cent we earn from Crocodile Hunter goes straight back into conservation. Every single cent."

This is a man who clearly receives little motivation from the desire to earn a lot of money. So how did he cope in Hollywood? "MGM bought me 22 new safari suits for a start! But really I steered clear of the joint.

Where I live if someone gives you a hug it's from the heart. I've had these blokes in Hollywood hug me trying to make out I'm their friend and as soon as I turn their back they take out a big bunch of knives and stab me in the back. I feel sorry for these people because they are so shallow."

Bizarrely enough, despite being the star of the film, he didn't really have much of a clue as to what was going on in the movie outside of his own parts. "I wasn't allowed on set, I wasn't allowed to read the script and I wasn't allowed to see the rushes. John wanted me to float through the movie, be totally myself and be a little na‹ve. So even though my feelings were a little hurt by that I knew it was all for the good of the final product."

Na‹ve or not, Steve Irwin looks set to become even more a household name in the next few months. And fair dinkum.

Mate tells of Irwin's last moments September 05, 2006 09:57am Article from: Font size: + - Send this article: Print Email A LIFE-long friend of Steve Irwin today told how the Crocodile Hunter pulled a deadly stingray barb from his own chest before losing consciousness and dying.

Friend John Stainton said he had viewed footage of his friend's last moments and the images were "shocking". "It's a very hard thing to watch because you're actually witnessing somebody die ... and it's terrible," he said.

"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here (in the chest), and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone. "That was it. The cameraman had to shut down." Irwin, 44, was filming a television program on the Great Barrier Reef off far north Queensland when the drama unfolded .Mr Stainton said Irwin's wife, Terri, who rushed to Queensland from a holiday in Tasmania after being told of the tragedy, was putting on a brave face for the sake of her children.

"I think she's being very strong," he said in Cairns, where Irwin's body has been taken.

"I think for the children's sake she has to be strong because they're at a very impressionable age, as you know.

"Bindi's eight and little Robert's coming up to three, so he may not totally understand, but Bindi certainly does.

"She's very mindful of how she has to control her emotions to get the kids through it." Terri Irwin remained at the family home on the Sunshine Coast with her children and Mr Stainton said she had no plans to go to Cairns.

The loss of an Australian icon has made headlines around the world and sparked tributes from all walks of life, with NEWS.com.au readers among the many keen to pass on their condolences. Irwin was killed while shooting footage for a new show he was doing with Bindi.

Terri would have the final say on whether film from the project was made public, the head of the US TV company that broadcasts his show said . `Film of the death has already been handed to Queensland police preparing a report for the Coroner.

Billy Campbell, the president of Discovery Networks, which owns the Animal Planet channel, said talks on the footage would take place with Terri at a suitable time.

"It's still too early," Mr Campbell said. "We'll have to take a look at it." Mr Campbell, who flew to Australia for Irwin's funeral, said he would also ask Terri whether she would like Bindi's show to go ahead.

"In terms of the Bindi show, a lot of that will depend on the conversations I have with Terri in a couple of days," he said.

"I want to give her a few days to mourn and think through things. "We'll talk about that in due time. "Should they want to move forward, then definitely we will move forward." Irwin was killed almost instantly when the stingray stabbed him in the heart with its poisonous 20cm barb as he snorkelled off Port Douglas.

He was pulled from the water by a cameraman and a crewman, put on an inflatable tender and taken to a support boat about 500m away. Crewmembers said he was barely conscious in the minutes after the sting, but died as his production team rushed him to his vessel, Croc One, and to a nearby island for emergency treatment.

A charter dive boat crew desperately tried to revive him on the beach, but were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards by Queensland Rescue Service officers, who had flown to the area by helicopter. Irwin's body was flown to Cairns where a post-mortem confirmed the cause of death.

"We're not going into the detail but there's definitely no surprises. Everyone knows how he died," a police spokeswoman said.One of Irwin's contemporaries, internationally known cameraman and spearfisherman Ben Cropp, was in his own boat off Port Douglas when Irwin was killed.

Mr Cropp said the stingray was spooked and went into defensive mood. "It probably felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead, and it felt there was danger and it baulked. "It stopped and went into a defensive mode and swung its tail with the spike.

"Steve unfortunately was in a bad position and copped it. "I have had that happen to me, and I can visualise it - when a ray goes into defensive, you get out of the way. "Steve was so close he could not get away, so if you can imagine it - being right beside the ray and it swinging its spine upwards from underneath Steve - and it hit him.

"I have seen that sort of reaction with rays - with their tail breaking the water, such is the force." Surf Lifesavers national marine stinger adviser Lisa-Ann Gershwin said there had only been 17 fatal stingray attacks worldwide. "I think it's just an extraordinary freak accident that has happened to his heart," she said.

"A lot of people will be afraid by this, but they need to keep in mind that this was a freak accident, it was a terrible tragedy but it is not common."

Dr Gershwin said stingray stings to the legs or arms were common and, while painful, were not normally considered dangerous. She said there were many different types of stingrays, with barbs on their tails up to 30cm long, and they poisoned victims with a range of toxins.

With AAP and The Australian