Born and raised in Australia, Steve Irwin was a zookeeper and conservationist who became one of the world's most iconic wildlife enthusiasts.
Australia ZooEnvironmentalist Steve Irwin poses next to a massive crocodile.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Steve Irwin won the hearts of millions as a charismatic wildlife enthusiast in the hit series The Crocodile Hunter.
Born in Australia, Irwin had grown up around wild animals and showed no fear even when encountering dangerous creatures. His parents, who built the reptile park that later became Australia Zoo, encouraged his wildlife adventures. And Irwin would eventually take over his family’s park.
It was only a matter of time before Steve Irwin’s passionate and entertaining personality attracted the interest of television producers, launching him to international stardom and leading to a wildlife empire that still stands strong today, despite the conservationist’s tragic passing in 2006.
The Early Life Of Steve Irwin In Australia
Tony FrisbySteve Irwin as a teenager.
Steve Robert Irwin was born on February 22, 1962, in Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia. Born to Lynette “Lyn” Hakainsson, a nurse and wildlife rehabilitator, and Bob Irwin, a plumber and conservationist, Steve Irwin grew up around wild and oftentimes dangerous animals.
By 1970, the Irwin family had moved to Beerwah, Queensland, Australia. There, Bob would upgrade his love for animals from a hobby to a career.
Bob purchased two acres of land to build a wildlife refuge, eventually naming it Beerwah Reptile Park. Meanwhile, Bob’s son and two daughters watched closely as he built the refuge from the ground up.
Before long, Bob noticed his son’s incredible gift with connecting with wildlife and began to teach him the ins and outs of animal care.
At only nine years old, Steve Irwin wrestled and caught his first crocodile under his father’s supervision. This paved the way for his famous career as “The Crocodile Hunter” that the world would later recognize him for.
The next big change came in the 1980s, when the Irwins renamed their park “Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park” and expanded it to four acres.
Australia ZooThe Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park.
Meanwhile, Steve Irwin volunteered to capture and relocate crocodiles for the Queensland Government’s East-Coast Crocodile Management Program. In total, he caught and relocated around 100 crocodiles for the program.
By the early 1990s, Steve Irwin had taken over his family’s park and he’d also had a fateful meeting with John Stainton, a television producer who was interested in filming a documentary about Irwin and his wild adventures.
Falling In Love And Filming Wildlife Adventures
Shortly after Bob Irwin relinquished control of his park to his son, Steve Irwin met American naturalist Terri Raines, from Eugene, Oregon, who happened to be visiting the park. Immediately, the two were smitten.
“I was very impressed with the humility and love that he had for the animals,” Terri Irwin later told The Courier Mail. “Incredibly short shorts, a big hat, and a big mullet, and he was so enthusiastic.”
@TerriIrwin/X (Formerly Twitter)Steve Irwin and Terri Irwin on their wedding day in 1992.
Steve expressed similar sentiments, telling interviewers at Australian Story: “I was never one for sheilas. I’m not that good with them. Dating and all that… I came back to the zoo this one time and I’m doing a crocodile demonstration, and I look over and here’s this drop-dead gorgeous sheila in the crowd staring right at me. This connection… ‘Romeo and Juliet’ — you’ve heard it all before. Crikey, here it is happening to me, and I’m thinking, ‘Wow.'”
The two spent the rest of the day talking and eventually exchanged phone numbers. Though Terri returned to Oregon shortly thereafter, it wasn’t long before Steve came to visit her in America. The couple became engaged after just four months together and they married on June 4, 1992.
Steve and Terri Irwin then moved back to Australia, but their wildlife adventures would soon take the pair all over the world.
The couple celebrated their honeymoon in true environmentalist fashion: capturing and relocating crocodiles together. With producer John Stainton and his film crew in tow, they filmed what would be the very first episode of The Crocodile Hunter — the television show that would put Steve Irwin in families’ living rooms all over the world and launch him to stardom.
Inside The Golden Age Of Steve Irwin, “The Crocodile Hunter”
Australia Zoo Steve Irwin with his mother, Lyn Irwin, who tragically died in a car accident in 2000.
In the late 1990s, The Crocodile Hunter was picked up as a series, debuting first in Australia and then in the United States. Before long, the series had attracted millions of viewers all over the world who enjoyed Steve Irwin’s addictive personality and fearlessness around wild animals.
One review of the show read:
The first time I watched [The Crocodile Hunter], Steve was in the jungles looking at elephants up close. The elephant noticed him and she started to run after Steve. He made it out ok, but damn was that ever entertaining!!! He knows how to make people sit up on their seats. And later on in that episode he climbs up a tree to get a snake. While he’s up there hanging on for his dear life he breaks off the branch with the snake on it, the snake was [venomous] but he didn’t care he brought it down to show it to us. This show, after one episode left me amazed.
The show featured Steve and Terri Irwin interacting with some of nature’s most dangerous animals, like sharks, snakes, and, of course, crocodiles. It took the couple to remote locations across Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Tsuni/USA/AlamySteve Irwin after the premiere of his film The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course.
And while the couple skyrocketed to stardom, they also welcomed a daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin, in 1998. By that point, they had also changed the name of their park to its current name: Australia Zoo. The park had also begun to expand further in size (and would eventually reach over 700 acres).
While his famous show was still in production, Steve Irwin starred alongside his wife in the 2002 adventure comedy movie The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, in which the couple played themselves.
A year later, the Irwins welcomed a son, Robert Clarence Irwin.
Life was good for the Irwins, and even though The Crocodile Hunter ended in 2004, the series remained popular worldwide. And the Irwins also appeared in plenty of other shows, like Croc Files, New Breed Vets, and Croc Diaries.
Meanwhile, Steve Irwin also made headlines for supporting wildlife conservation, appearing in media campaigns, and even participating in the rescue mission of a stranded scuba diver near Mexico.
His life was a wild ride, and one that the public couldn’t stop watching.
Steve Irwin Builds A Wildlife Empire
Australia ZooSteve Irwin with his wife, daughter, and son.
In the early 2000s, Steve Irwin was moving full speed ahead on building a vast wildlife empire with Australia Zoo at its center.
In 2003, Irwin told The Age that his main goal was to improve the lives of animals around the globe. “I consider myself a wildlife warrior. My mission is to save the world’s endangered species,” he stated.
Shortly before his death, he announced the creation of a new show centering around his daughter Bindi Irwin and her adventures in nature, Bindi the Jungle Girl. Meant to be geared toward children, this show would ultimately join an arsenal of media starring the Irwin family, who at this point had become synonymous with all things wildlife.
Steve Irwin also made headlines in Australia for advocating against land clearing and poaching, concerned about the effects they’d have on the environment. In his quest for wildlife conservation, he also urged the average person to be conscientious about their purchases while traveling to new places and avoid supporting the poaching industry.
Above all, he did whatever he could to get his fans to care about vulnerable creatures as much as he did: “I believe that the time has come where if we don’t get animals into people’s hearts, they’re going to go extinct.”
Though Irwin was sometimes criticized for his methods of handling animals — perhaps most infamously, he was photographed in 2004 hand-feeding a crocodile while holding his then-one-month-old son — his family members and colleagues insisted that safety was a top priority for him. For the most part, he seemed to weather the storm of any controversy that came his way.
In fact, his ongoing success in entertainment eventually allowed him to create the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation (now known as Wildlife Warriors), the International Crocodile Rescue, and the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility. Prior to his death, Irwin even mentioned the possibility of building other zoos around the world like Australia Zoo.
By 2006, Irwin had amassed a massive empire that supported wildlife conservation causes around the world. But in September of that year, his name was in the headlines for an entirely different — and tragic — reason.
The Sudden And Tragic Death Of Steve Irwin
David Wall/Alamy Stock PhotoBatt Reef (part of the outer Great Barrier Reef), where Steve Irwin died.
On September 4, 2006, Steve Irwin was at Batt Reef, part of Australia’s outer Great Barrier Reef, filming for the new wildlife series Ocean’s Deadliest.
Inclement weather stalled filming for a period of time, prompting Irwin to film B-roll for a separate project. While in chest-deep water, Irwin spotted a stingray and thought it’d make for a good shot if he swam up toward the animal, and then the camera could capture the stingray swimming away.
Instead, the stingray began stabbing Irwin in the chest with its barb. Wildlife experts believe that the stingray mistook Irwin for a predator.
The documentary crew pulled Irwin out of the water after noticing Irwin’s wounds and began administering CPR. According to Justin Lyons, a cameraman on board, Irwin’s wounds were far too severe for him to survive.
Lyons later described the last conversation he had with the Crocodile Hunter on the Australian news station Studio 10: “We’re saying to him things like, ‘Think of your kids, Steve, hang on, hang on, hang on.’ He just sort of calmly looked up at me and said, ‘I’m dying.’ And that was the last thing he said.”
Irwin was only 44 years old at the time of his death.
Mourning The Loss Of The Crocodile Hunter
Townsville BulletinVisitors and employees at Australia Zoo mourning the death of Steve Irwin.
Following the tragic incident, mourners gathered at Australia Zoo to pay their respects. At the entrance of the zoo were countless flowers and cards, one of which read, “Steve, from all God’s creatures, thank you. Rest in peace.”
The Irwin family held a private funeral soon thereafter, and they also held a public memorial service at Australia Zoo on September 20th.
There, eight-year-old Bindi Irwin gave a touching speech about her father:
“I have the best Daddy in the whole world and I will miss him every day. When I see a crocodile I will always think of him and I know that Daddy made this zoo so everyone could come and learn to love all the animals. Daddy made this place his whole life and now it’s our turn to help Daddy.”
Today, Bindi Irwin (who is now in her mid-20s), her brother Robert Irwin, and her mother Terri Irwin all work at Australia Zoo and continue the conservation work that their beloved family member started.
Although his untimely demise was tragic and mourned around the world, Steve Irwin died in the pursuit of his life goal: wildlife conservation. It seems like Irwin understood his unorthodox and often dangerous lifestyle could end in tragedy, but it was a tradeoff he was willing to make.
After reading about Steve Irwin, dive into the tragic story of Timothy Treadwell, the man who devoted his life to grizzly bears — until they ate him. Then, learn about some of the world’s most dangerous animals.
