The character arc of Steve Irwin
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 22 February 1962 in Upper Ferntree Gully, outside Melbourne. Between then and 2006 sit a move to Queensland in 1970, a scrub python on his sixth birthday, a first crocodile handled at nine, more than a hundred crocodiles caught for a state relocation programme, the park taken over in 1991, a honeymoon in 1992 that was filmed and became The Crocodile Hunter in 1996, Australia Zoo named in 1998, and a conservation charity that outlived him. He died at Batt Reef, Queensland, on 4 September 2006.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Steve Irwin?
A python at six, and half the world watching.
His mother was a maternity nurse and his father a plumber who kept reptiles, and in 1970 the family moved to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and opened a reptile park. He was given a twelve foot scrub python on his sixth birthday. He began handling crocodiles at nine and wrestled his first that year, under his father's supervision. He fed and cared for the animals daily, and later volunteered for Queensland's East Coast Crocodile Management programme, catching more than a hundred crocodiles that were relocated or housed at the park.
He took over the park in 1991 and renamed it Australia Zoo in 1998. On 6 October 1991 an American naturalist named Terri Raines came to visit, and they were married on 4 June 1992. They spent their honeymoon trapping crocodiles, a cameraman came along, and the footage became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter. It went out in Australia in 1996, reached North America the following year and was eventually seen in more than a hundred and thirty countries by an estimated five hundred million people. His mother was killed in 2000, and a memorial fund in her name was one of several he set up.
He said plainly what the work was for: he called himself a wildlife warrior and said his mission was to save the world's endangered species. He founded the charity now known as Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, bought large tracts of land in Australia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the United States and described them as national parks, and argued that individuals could make a difference. He died on 4 September 2006 at Batt Reef, pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef. A public memorial in the zoo's own arena on 30 September was watched by an estimated three hundred million people. His family still runs Australia Zoo.
The moments
Steve Irwin's timeline.
The 1960s
Born outside Melbourne
Everyday. A maternity nurse and a plumber who kept reptiles.
A python for his birthday
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Six years old, and the present was four metres long.
The 1970s
The family opens a park
Milestone, and it changed his direction. He grew up on the grounds, feeding and cleaning before school.
His first crocodile at nine
Milestone, and it changed everything. Nine, and already doing the thing he would still be doing at forty four.
The 1980s
A hundred crocodiles caught
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Unpaid, often alone, and it taught him everything the television later showed.
The 1990s
He takes over the park
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The place his parents built, now his to run.
Let the camera come
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: film the honeymoon, taken, or keep the work quiet. The series began in 1996 and reached more than a hundred and thirty countries.
A honeymoon with a camera
Milestone, and it changed everything. They filmed the honeymoon, and the honeymoon became a series.
The Crocodile Hunter begins
Milestone, and it changed everything. The khaki shorts, the accent, and a hundred and thirty countries.
Bindi is born
Milestone. Named after a crocodile, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The 2000s
His mother is lost
Setback, and it changed everything. The wildlife rehabilitator who started all of it, gone.
A feature film
Milestone. He played himself, and did his own stunts, which for him meant the animals.
He stops filming to search
Milestone. The cameras went off and the boat went out. One person came home.
A day he answered for
Setback, and it changed his direction. He said sorry on television, and the law was tightened after it.
Batt Reef
Setback, and it changed everything. Forty four years old, at work, in the water he had spent his life in.
Three hundred million watch
Milestone, and it changed everything. A zookeeper from Beerwah, and a third of a billion people stopped.
The zoo at Beerwah opens every morning and his children run it. What his curiosity set moving is bigger than any of the television: a charity still buying habitat, a public that learned the word conservation from a man in khaki shorts, and the plain demonstration that the thing you loved at six can be the whole of your working life.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His began with a boy who was given a snake and never once got over it. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Steve Irwin: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Steve Irwin's character arc?
How did Steve Irwin get started with crocodiles?
How did Steve Irwin start The Crocodile Hunter?
What was Steve Irwin's conservation work?
How did Steve Irwin die?
What happened to Australia Zoo after Steve Irwin died?
Was Steve Irwin ever criticised?
Where does this timeline of Steve Irwin's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Steve Irwin, English Wikipedia biography.
- Britannica, biography of Steve Irwin.
- Australia Zoo and Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, organisation records.