{"id":879112,"date":"2026-09-04T01:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T01:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879112\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T01:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T01:14:16","slug":"steve-irwin-20th-anniversary-bindi-irwin-shares-heartfelt-tribute-to-her-superhero-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879112\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Irwin 20th anniversary: Bindi Irwin shares heartfelt tribute to her ‘superhero’ father"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nell<\/p>\n

September 4, 2026 \u2014 10:15am<\/p>\n

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Bindi Irwin has shared a heartfelt tribute to her father Steve, the famous \u201cCrocodile Hunter\u201d who died suddenly 20 years ago, calling him a \u201csuperhero\u201d and honouring the loving legacy he left behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty years ago today, the world lost the most passionate and dedicated wildlife conservationist. Our family lost our superhero. My mum lost the love of her life; my brother and I lost the greatest dad,\u201d the 28-year-old conservationist wrote on her Instagram story on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve and Bindi Irwin at Australia Zoo in 2003.AAP<\/p>\n

On September 4, 2006, Steve was fatally stabbed by a stingray<\/a> off the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas while filming a documentary. Beloved around the world as the famous \u201cCrocodile Hunter\u201d, his unexpected death at 44 sent shockwaves around the world.<\/p>\n

In her tribute, Bindi, who was only eight when her father died, said she has watched the world mourn Steve alongside her family over the past two decades. Such grief never leaves you, she said, but \u201cwhere there is enormous grief, there is even greater love\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AA screenshot of Bindi\u2019s Irwin\u2019s tribute to her father on the 20th anniversary of his death.Instagram<\/p>\n

Steve, one of the most famous wildlife conservationists in history, was best known as the host of renowned series The Crocodile Hunter. Audiences became enamoured with his signature khaki shorts and unforgettable catchcry, \u201ccrikey\u201d. In 2002, he co-founded the Wildlife Warriors with his wife Terri to protect threatened species and habitats, and he expanded Australia Zoo into a globally recognised tourist phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Bindi said she initially thought her father\u2019s conservation efforts would be his lasting legacy. However, she has since realised his legacy is, in fact, one of love \u2013 love for both the planet and each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad left a lasting impact so poignant that it will ripple out for generations to come,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI believe with my whole heart that his love will live on forever. In all of us. In every kindness we show to the Earth. And that is a life and legacy worth celebrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

This love has already had an impact on Bindi\u2019s daughter, Grace Warrior, who never met Steve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a five-year-old daughter who watches his documentaries every morning,\u201d Bindi wrote. \u201cShe feels utterly loved by her \u2018grandpa crocodile\u2019 without ever having met him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Steve has become a \u201cguardian angel\u201d, Bindi added, someone who now watches over her daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad, I love you with my whole heart,\u201d she wrote. \u201c[Grace] loves you so much. We all do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bindi\u2019s mother Terri, who married Steve in 1992, also remembered the Crocodile Hunter on Friday, sharing a video in which her late husband described the \u201cgreatest wildlife encounter\u201d he ever witnessed: Bindi\u2019s birth. He explained what it was like helping the obstetrician, a \u201clegend of a man\u201d, pull his daughter out, and the bruises he had along his arms from where Terri had grabbed him.<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve Irwin was known around the world as the \u201cCrocodile Hunter\u201d.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Robert Irwin, Steve\u2019s 22-year-old son who recently hosted the 2026 Logie Awards, shared his own thoughts on grief during an appearance on the CNN podcast All There Is with Anderson Cooper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Robet<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always closest to dad when I\u2019m in the middle of nowhere, you know, when I\u2019m out in the bush,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are absolutely moments where I\u2019ll be hit with this sense of \u2013 it\u2019s warmth, it\u2019s like something kind of wraps around me \u2026 and I will absolutely sit and just say, \u2018How do I go forward? How do you move forward?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past few weeks, the Irwin family has been taking part in the annual Crocodile Research Expedition \u2013 an endeavour that Steve and Terri began in the late 1990s to help crocodiles and humans coexist. During the expedition in the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve along the Wenlock River in Far North Queensland, they managed to catch and record 32 crocodiles, bringing their total up to 317 crocs over almost 20 years.<\/p>\n

Since Steve\u2019s death, the Irwins have not only maintained his conservation efforts, but also his pop-cultural force. Australia Zoo has remained relevant largely thanks to the siblings\u2019 ongoing presence on TikTok, and Robert has become a staple on Australian TV thanks to his past roles as co-host of I\u2019m A Celebrity \u2026 Get Me Out of Here! and host of this year\u2019s Logies. They\u2019ve even broken onto the global stage, with both Bindi and Robert winning separate seasons of the US Dancing with the Stars.<\/p>\n

The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"NellNell Geraets<\/a> is a Culture reporter at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 4, 2026 \u2014 10:15am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-879112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}