As the sun rose on a sombre day marking the 18th year since the world lost an iconic wildlife enthusiast, Bindi Irwin took to social media to honour her father, Steve Irwin, known to many as the Crocodile Hunter.

The legacy of Steve Irwin, who tragically passed away at the age of 44 on 4 September 2006 while filming the documentary Ocean’s Deadliest at the Great Barrier Reef, continues to resonate with nature lovers across the globe.

Bindi, who has become a conservationist in her own right, shared a poignant post on social media featuring a photo of her dad engaged in one of his most daring acts—wrangling a giant crocodile.

The image, capturing the essence of Steve's adventurous spirit and unwavering commitment to wildlife, was accompanied by a heartfelt caption: 'It is an honour to help continue the work you started. Your legacy lives on in our family, our team, Australia Zoo, Wildlife Warriors, and The Crocodile Hunter Lodge. Hope to make you proud.'

Bindi Irwin shared an emotional tribute to his father on his 18th death anniversary. Credit: @bindisueirwin / Instagram

The emotional tribute reflects not only a daughter's love but also a promise to uphold a father's mission. Bindi's brother, Robert, also paid homage by resharing her post.

Steve Irwin's untimely death sent shockwaves around the world, leaving fans and admirers in disbelief.

Bindi, who was just eight years old at the time, touched the hearts of millions with her moving eulogy delivered in front of a crowd of 5,000 at a memorial service and broadcast to an estimated 300 million television viewers.

Clad in the family's signature khaki uniform, she bravely declared, '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.

‘I don’t want Daddy’s passion to ever end—I want to help endangered wildlife just like he did.’

The Irwin children have followed in their father's footsteps, dedicating their lives to conservation and continuing his television legacy.

Bindi, who captivated audiences with her victory on Dancing with the Stars in 2015, has also found happiness in her personal life. She married Chandler Powell, an American professional wakeboarder, in 2020, and the couple welcomed their daughter, Grace Warrior Irwin Powell, in 2021.

Robert, too, has carved out his own path in the spotlight, from hosting I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! to strutting down the runway at the Melbourne Fashion Festival.

His role as the face of a Queensland tourism campaign underscores his commitment to promoting the natural beauty of his home state.

Bindi and Robert have used their social media platform to engage with world leaders, including King Charles, on protecting natural habitats.

The Irwin family's impact is palpable, and their success is a testament to the public's continued fascination and support for their wildlife conservation efforts.

Key Takeaways

• Bindi Irwin honoured her father, Steve Irwin, on the 18th anniversary of his death with a touching Instagram post featuring a photo of him.
• Steve Irwin passed away at age 44 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming a documentary.
• Bindi has continued her father's legacy in conservation, along with her brother Robert, and reflected on how his passion for wildlife continues to inspire her family and their work.
• Both Bindi and Robert Irwin have followed in their father's footsteps with their own work in conservation and television, and they have collectively gained substantial public influence and recognition.

Do you have your own memories with loved ones you want to share with the world? Let us know in the comments below!

 

[Suzanne rose]

My grandmother raised me from a new born . She was not just my nan but my best friend .

She never judge me but gently told me when I was wrong.
She supported me even when I was in the wrong.

She worked hard in a nursing home so she could give us what she missed out on as a child.

My Grandfather was just as amazing telling me stories each night and teaching me songs way before my time. The favourites being Goodnight Irene, You are my sunshine and Daisy.

The eldest daughter , my aunty was also one of my favourite people, a very funny and loving lady who sadly died at just 51 fighting a fire who son started.

These three people I still miss every day .

 

[Isis]

I nearly lost the love of my life from sheer stubbornness, on both parts actually, sobbed all over my nanna, she asked one question. Do you love him? Answered in the affirmative, she just told me to put my pride in my pocket and ring him. 50 years on so glad I listened to my wonderful wise grandmother

 

[Mary_Again]

My father was my teacher, my mentor and my inspiration. He was a brilliant student and won a college scholarship, but his unsupportive father refused to buy his college uniform, so father got an office job. Later he joined the airforce and with training in radar fitting, plus his natural talents in mathematics he excelled in electrical engineering. His design ideas caught the attention of Saunders Roe and he was sent to Australia to join the Satellite launching project which successfully launched Prospero in 1971 aboard the Black Arrow rocket. He was truly a rocket scientist.

I grew up in the space age. I learnt to draw on the backs of Rocket launch schedules - they have a distinct smell! I grew up with rockets and my father reciting BB-ROY-BGV-GW around the house. I made a cardboard model of a gyroscope when I was in early primary school. Interestingly, when I studied physics at university many years later, some students didn’t even know what a gyroscope was! When I did the practicals I found out I already knew the order of resistances. Blue=1, Black=2 - Red,Orange,Yellow …. (BB-ROY-…).

Father taught me mathematics, science, philosophy, a love of classic movies and reading, He taught me to swim, he got up at 4:00am to take me to swimming training with Harry Gallagher. We even appeared together (very) briefly on the news demonstrating a lifesaving rescue!

Despite the successful launch of Prospero, the project was cancelled that same year due to costs. My father returned to studies and became a primary school teacher. He was a brilliant teacher, but not so good child minder and fortunately was sent to teach at the Correspondence school, where his students appreciated his efforts. He developed the computer network at the school and instructed the artists in use of the Macintosh. I know, because sometimes I went in to assist.

Father loved animals. He appeared on in the local news guiding a family of ducks through the city streets. I have videos of him covered in barbary doves & cockatoos and of course with our family cats. He fed a cockatoo with ‘beak and feather’ disease for months until it died - it lived in the neighbours gum tree and would come down every day for food. He would also offer help if he could, to anyone he saw in need. Many a time he would be late home because he was helping some stranger fix something in their home.

My father and I would sit outside and talk about the stars and the universe and try and figure out what existence was. When I was bullied at work and moved to Canberra, my father travelled with me to ensure I settled in and spoke to me on the phone every day. He was always there to support me. Not to say we didn’t have our arguments, we were too much alike not to!

Unfortunately, circumstances worked against us. Father went to a nursing home for respite while we waited for home upgrades to support him at home, but due to lack of supervision at the nursing home, he became injured and never returned home. He died in another nursing home in the middle of a Covid outbreak, almost deaf, half blind and alone. I wasn’t there to say goodbye and hug him and tell him how much I loved him, something I regret everyday.

I laid a leaf for him at the Drumminor Gardens in Ridgehaven last year. He would have been 96 on September 12th, 2024.

Father supported me through my studies and my life. He made me who I am today. I am proud to be his daughter. I was so fortunate to have him as a father. He was a wonderful gift.

 

[Suzanne rose]

My father was my teacher, my mentor and my inspiration. He was a brilliant student and won a college scholarship, but his unsupportive father refused to buy his college uniform, so father got an office job. Later he joined the airforce and with training in radar fitting, plus his natural talents in mathematics he excelled in electrical engineering. His design ideas caught the attention of Saunders Roe and he was sent to Australia to join the Satellite launching project which successfully launched Prospero in 1971 aboard the Black Arrow rocket. He was truly a rocket scientist.

I grew up in the space age. I learnt to draw on the backs of Rocket launch schedules - they have a distinct smell! I grew up with rockets and my father reciting BB-ROY-BGV-GW around the house. I made a cardboard model of a gyroscope when I was in early primary school. Interestingly, when I studied physics at university many years later, some students didn’t even know what a gyroscope was! When I did the practicals I found out I already knew the order of resistances. Blue=1, Black=2 - Red,Orange,Yellow …. (BB-ROY-…).

Father taught me mathematics, science, philosophy, a love of classic movies and reading, He taught me to swim, he got up at 4:00am to take me to swimming training with Harry Gallagher. We even appeared together (very) briefly on the news demonstrating a lifesaving rescue!

Despite the successful launch of Prospero, the project was cancelled that same year due to costs. My father returned to studies and became a primary school teacher. He was a brilliant teacher, but not so good child minder and fortunately was sent to teach at the Correspondence school, where his students appreciated his efforts. He developed the computer network at the school and instructed the artists in use of the Macintosh. I know, because sometimes I went in to assist.

Father loved animals. He appeared on in the local news guiding a family of ducks through the city streets. I have videos of him covered in barbary doves & cockatoos and of course with our family cats. He fed a cockatoo with ‘beak and feather’ disease for months until it died - it lived in the neighbours gum tree and would come down every day for food. He would also offer help if he could, to anyone he saw in need. Many a time he would be late home because he was helping some stranger fix something in their home.

My father and I would sit outside and talk about the stars and the universe and try and figure out what existence was. When I was bullied at work and moved to Canberra, my father travelled with me to ensure I settled in and spoke to me on the phone every day. He was always there to support me. Not to say we didn’t have our arguments, we were too much alike not to!

Unfortunately, circumstances worked against us. Father went to a nursing home for respite while we waited for home upgrades to support him at home, but due to lack of supervision at the nursing home, he became injured and never returned home. He died in another nursing home in the middle of a Covid outbreak, almost deaf, half blind and alone. I wasn’t there to say goodbye and hug him and tell him how much I loved him, something I regret everyday.

I laid a leaf for him at the Drumminor Gardens in Ridgehaven last year. He would have been 96 on September 12th, 2024.

Father supported me through my studies and my life. He made me who I am today. I am proud to be his daughter. I was so fortunate to have him as a father. He was a wonderful gift.

What a beautiful story I think it is worthy to be made into a movie or at least a book.

What a wonderful father you had , and what an amazing man !!.

Your childhood sounded far from boredom.

Thank you for sharing your story about your dad.

I'm pretty sure your dad knew you loved him , the same as we can see how much he loved you

Memories never go away but the pain of losing them does get easier.

 

[PepeLePew]

Although I am a great admirer of Steve and was one of the 5,000 who attended his memorial service at Australia Zoo and watched Bindi get her eulogy for her Dad, I believe it was Steve's father who actually founded/started the Park. Steve went on to improve on what his father started and his kids have improved on that. It's just such a shame that Steve's dad Bob no longer has any input into what he started as a legacy for his son and now his grandkids and great grandkid/s. Shame Irwin family, Shame.

 

[Gsr]

My mum was such a special part of my life. We grew up so poor, but mum made our lives so much brighter just by her always positive can do attitude. She was a brilliant home taught seamstress and made all our clothes when we were younger, she knitted all our jumpers and cardigans in winter. We lived in mostly hand me downs, but every Christmas she made us a new outfit each. She was a great cook and seemed to be able to scrape together a meal for us all with very little. She grew lots of different vegies, we had chooks for eggs and meat. Our grandparents had a house cow and supplied us with milk and cream. They had a big fruit orchard so we had fresh fruit and preserves, jams etc. I grew up helping mum with all household and child rearing from a very young age. I was the second eldest of ten kids, although by the time the younger two were born we weren’t as poor as we had been when there were eight of us. My mum and dad didn’t have the happy marriage I have had, I know mum was treated badly by dad at times. The only money mum ever had of her own was the child endowment she got for us kids, which was minimal back then. Most of it she spent on us kids. Mum had her first baby at sixteen and after that never had any time of her own, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at fifty four my two younger brothers were still at school. She fought a brave fight which she lost when she was fifty seven, never having had any of her life from age sixteen without having to look after at least a couple of kids. I was devastated when she passed away, and after thirty one years still have an ache in my heart every time I think of her and what a tough life she lived. Hubby adored her as well and often tells people everyone should have a mother in law like he had and they would be truly blessed.

 

[Mary_Again]

The other half of the story:

My mother was two years younger than my father. Born within the sound of the bow bells, She, like my father, grew up during the war. Times were hard then, especially for those less well off. While it is believed there had been some money in the family, her immediate family saw none of it. She hardly knew her father. He found another wife quite early on and took on many of her children as his own, abandoning my mother to her mother’s care.

Living near London, mother, like my father, was shipped to the country to board with a family for safety. Father being a cyclist, rode himself back home! Mother was not so adventurous and faced bullying from the household residents. The adults stole her belongings and sold them, the children attacked her physically, until she learnt to fight back.

Mother’s mother was a nightmare. You hear stories of famous children like Christina Crawford having abusive parents, but how many realise that is happening next door? Many times the neighbours reported loud noises coming from the house, but no-one ever intervened. Mother ran away from home many times and eventually the authorities stopped bringing her back, she was better off on her own.

She recalled one child in the household being thrown from one corner of the flat to the other, hitting his head on a table in an adjoining room, another where a pan was brought down on a child’s head so hard she was sure their skull was damaged. Mother used to come up with excuses to avoid PE at school so she wouldn’t reveal the bruises under her dress.

Mother lived on the streets during her teenage years. She slept in parks and found jobs that didn’t pay enough to eat. One day she says she woke up in the local park to see a man crawling towards her, she got up and ran for her life. She swore he was the one being reported in the local news for murder.

Mother worked aa a maid, a live-in cleaner in a rich Italian household, any job she could find. She got an office job and was beginning to fit in, though still paid a child’s wage and often going hungry. She told me of a time when all she wanted to eat, was meat and potatoes, but she all she could afford to buy, was a small cake.

One day her father turned up unexpectedly and decided to buy her some decent shoes, but she was so malnourished the shoes rubbed the skin off the back of her heels. The office staff found out what had happened and chipped in to buy her a meal, but disliking the attention, mother moved on to another job. There, one of the junior staff about to get married, made confetti out of the office records and hid the paperwork in a drawer. When that girl left, mother was blamed, she moved on again.

Finally, by fortune, mother heard of the nursing program and signed up for nurse training, this turned her life around. She excelled at her studies and won prizes for her efforts. Finally she had a home and a future.

While she was still training, she met my father. He too came from an abusive household. His father was an abusive drunk, though quite capable, as he held down quite a variety of jobs, including running a movie theatre for a number of years, thus creating my father’s love of movies. The common background brought them together. They also shared a love of practical jokes, the stories I could tell … My parents married before mother completed her training, a mistake she regretted later in life and which encouraged me to complete any studies I took on.

Soon after I was born, father got a job with Saunders Roe and was shipped out to Australia, leaving mother and me in England. We followed a few months later.

Father was often absent during my younger years. His work took him to Woomera quite often, so mother was left alone, in a strange country with a young child, again fending for herself. The language was different, words had different meanings. My father, though very capable, did not have a college degree, so was paid only a minimum wage and mother would have to make ends meet. But at least there was enough for food.

We travelled to England a few times, part of my father’s contract. In the end, I circled the world four times by the time I left primary school. I spent a night in the Cocos Islands watching the crabs run sideways down the beach and the natives climb coconut trees. I spent my 11th birthday in Singapore, where I saw my first curly haired cat. I’ve even been half way up the Empire State Building, not that I can remember it, I was about two years old.

Harry Gallagher, Dawn Fraser’s coach, came to our state briefly and mother went out to work to pay for my swimming training. I started winning races and made the state finals in breast-stroke that same year. I even got my picture in the paper, swimming in an individual medley at the same event.

My mother often had to work to make ends meet. As she hadn’t finished her training, she could only work as an enrolled nurse, though from her training, she was often much more experienced and capable. Father had to start a new career when the satellite launch program was cancelled and mother became the main breadwinner for over four years. I recall the time when a packet of biscuits was considered a luxury item, but we never went without food or clothes.

Despite all the problems our family faced, my parents found the resources to put both of us, my sister and me, through university. My sister graduated with an Arts degree and became a nurse. I completed two degrees. My parents through their hardships, made sure we had the support they never had from their parents. On their shoulders we stand!

Mother’s past caught up with her, the stresses of her childhood and the lack of food. Nurse training was hard on the body and she ended up with many physical and psychological injuries. Her back was damaged from lifting patients and her retirement was plagued with medical problems. Finally, we realised we didn’t have the facilities to keep her at home. She lasted a month in the nursing home - there were no bars on the bed and she fell onto the floor one night. She died the next day.

My mother showed me strength, courage and resilience. She was protective, but her past sometimes affected her behaviour. My teenage years were hard and we often fought. While I understand much of her attitudes, it was hard to deal with them at the time. My regret is, they kept a distance between us, an issue that was never resolved.

 

[Jill57]

I remember my son 38 who died after 9 weeks of a viscous and rampant cancer in March he leaves his wife and 2 sons 4 and 1 years old