Steve Irwin

The unexpected death of Steve Irwin has shaken people around the world.

My friend Jane called me on Monday from Canberra with the news of the sting ray accident off the coast of northern Queensland. I think she summed it up for a lot of Australians when she said that she didn’t really feel much of a connection with Steve Irwin but the news of his death stirred something unexpected. The televised tributes she watched resulted in tears and she wrote by email that she hadn’t realised how much she liked the man.

Collectively, we feel a great sadness for a man we watched bounce around on our televisions espousing his fascination with animals, dangerous or otherwise, spreading the message of environmental conservation.

The news of his death has been covered all over the world on television, radio, newspapers and the internet. People are adopting a turtle symbol on their MSN messenger display picture as a sign of respect. Tributes are coming in from across the globe including India, Norway, Britain, Mexico and USA.

On the internet I read that the accident occurred near the Low Isles, in the Great Barrier Reef. This brought back childhood memories of boat trips to Low Island, swimming and snorkelling over the reef, and wondering at the smallest coral island I’d ever seen at the age of eleven. The clear waters provided a window to the vivid colours as the fish darted and floated in and around the wonderland of coral below. It’s very strange to think that such a paradise is where Steve Irwin met with the defensive system of an unsuspecting sting ray. One can only imagine if he even realised what had happened. The barb of a sting ray is used in self defence only and is the equivalent of a poison tipped kitchen knife plunging into his chest.

There have been and will continue to be hundreds of words written and spoken about Steve Irwin. Many clichés are being thrown around. He was an icon, an environmentalist, an entrepreneur, a husband and father, a media personality and a larrikin. Mostly he was seen as a real life Crocodile Dundee character. I will always remember the day we visited Australia Zoo, just forty minutes north of our house in Brisbane, over the Easter weekend in 2005. Australia Zoo was great, but it was the live show with Steve, his wife Terri and his crew managing the birds, reptiles, tigers, elephants and crocodiles that really made the day. Like most people I guess, I was completely unprepared for the fact that he appeared to be as energetic, effervescent and truly Aussie in person as he was on the small screen.

Even more impressive though were Steve Irwin’s plans for the continuing expansion of the world class Australia Zoo site from its current 68 acres to 300 acres. His vision was to develop the park to represent each continent on the planet, featuring native and exotic species from all around the world, to provide more natural environments for the animals and focus on the environmental education. The multi-million dollar investment scheme is aimed to create the best zoological facility in the world. The Irwin family have quietly been buying up large tracts of land in Australia, the US, Vanuatu and Fiji; areas that Steve felt should be preserved in an effort to protect them from urbanisation and industry, turning them into wildlife refuges. A large proportion of his earnings were invested in this initiative. It was this mindset that drew Gigi’s respect.

Gigi is not ordinarily a fan of television personalities, especially a larger-than-life character like Steve Irwin who was particularly attractive to the American public for his extreme behaviour, passion and craziness. However he was truly shocked at the news of his death, and truly regretful about the loss to the environment.

It’s a sad reflection of our cultural tall poppy syndrome when fellow Australians claim Steve Irwin was an embarrassment. Germaine Greer wrote in a UK newspaper that the animal kingdom has finally struck its revenge. She believed him to be a “self deluded animal tormentor” who “exploited animals by telling the world how dangerous they were and then treating them with disrespect”. (Click here to see Germaine Greer interviewed on A Current Affair.)

The Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, has emotionally recommended that the expatriate Australian should ‘back off’ and keep her ‘stupid’ comments on Irwin to herself. The Queensland government offered his family a state funeral. The Irwin family have officially declined this offer but are planning a memorial service. (Click here to read some of the public feedback & comments posted in response to Germaine Greer's opinion.)
Steve Irwin was a positive man, and certainly not known as a ‘knocker’ of others. He was one of the most famous and successful Australians of our times and regardless of the risks he chose to take in front of the camera, he always had an environmental message to deliver. This was demonstrated when, in response to the news of Steve’s death, the Australian Prime Minister stood up in Parliament, recognising his contribution to the environment, citing it as a huge loss for Australia. John Howard said "I am quite shocked and distressed at Steve Irwin's sudden, untimely and freakish death”.
The local community of Beerwah, the location of Australia Zoo and the Irwin residence, will certainly struggle with the loss. As will his employees, family, friends and fans. I anticipate that the memorial services will draw more people than anyone expects. He was fundamentally a good bloke, dedicated to his family and his environmental beliefs. There are lessons to be learnt from everyone’s life, and perhaps it was Steve’s passion and his uncompromising stand on his messages of conservation, rehabilitation and education that we should absorb and apply to our own lives.

The world was shaken at the news of the untimely loss of Steve Irwin. It’s much simpler than that though. As individuals and as a country we feel like we’ve lost a friend, an inspirational and engaging one, but a mate nonetheless.