No Goodbyes Mate....
e World Today - Tuesday, 5 September , 2006 12:14:00
Reporter: Melanie Christiansen
ELEANOR HALL: Steve Irwin's death has prompted tears and tributes from all around the world. But nowhere is his death being felt more keenly than Beerwah, the tiny community a couple of hours drive north of Brisbane where the crocodile hunter grew up and built his dad's reptile park into a world-renowned zoo.
Today the town of Beerwah is in shock, as Melanie Christiansen reports.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Since the news of Steve Irwin's death broke, mourners have been arriving at his Australia Zoo, just a few hours drive north of Brisbane.
Family friend Councillor Anna Grosskreutz says it's an amazing sight.
ANNA GROSSKREUTZ: There's people arriving with floral tributes, candles, cards, trees, all sorts of things, that people feel that they can bring to the zoo just to be a part of the grieving, and it's just so sad to see how many people there are just overwhelmed.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Among those paying their respects today was 16-year-old James Anakin.
JAMES ANAKIN: There was never a person like him, a person who cared for animals so much, an I don't think will be ever again, really. You know, what he'd done in his short life, you know, really was incredible, and I just feel like, you know, we've lost an important person from the world, you know. It's definitely changed the world a bit, really.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: The world has certainly changed for the local community, where Steve Irwin grew up after his father moved the family from Melbourne to start a reptile park. It was a childhood Mr Irwin remembered fondly in this interview with the ABC's Andrew Denton. :
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STEVE IRWIN: In my house, when I was growing up, mum would have 12 pouches, you know, make-believe kangaroo pouches set up on the backs of chairs, virtually everywhere. So we'd have 12 little joeys, ranging from little pinkies all the way up to one-year-olds.
You know, koalas hanging off the curtains, you know, with gum leaves stuck in there, sugar gliders gliding through. Like, you'd be walking down through the house... (to cameraman) Stay with me, mate. Where is he?
You're walking down through the house and next minute, clack, you know, on your bare back there'd be a possum - arggh! - rip into you. And, of course, inside the house was just snakesville.
ANDREW DENTON: Really?
STEVE IRWIN: Oh, crikey, mate! Chock-a-block full of snakes.
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MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Now those who grew up with Steve Irwin are in mourning. His family has many friends in the small town of Beerwah, just a couple minutes down the road from the zoo.
Geoff Morgan is one of the owners of the Beerwah Hotel.
GEOFF MORGAN: They've really helped put Beerwah on the map, and they've embraced the town, they haven't... I mean a lot of, I guess, big business sort of doesn't... don't worry about the community, and what have you.
But they do a hell of lot for the community, and as I said, have put it on the map by... and all their advertising, you know, Australia Zoo, a Zoo at Beerwah, and you they're almost the heart and soul of the community.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: As well as its biggest employer, Lea Parkes edits the local paper.
LEA PARKES: I guess the thing is, initially the shock, and people wanting to talk, and people... just absolute disbelief, really. And it can't be true, and Steve was invincible, so a lot of grappling with, you know, this can't possibly have happened, not to our Steve.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: She says no one there is unaffected.
LEA PARKES: Everybody in the town has either met Steve, or went to school with him, or knows somebody that knows him, so our... we're very, you know, one degree of separation. So they're very, very close, and obviously that reaction will be strong for those people.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: And many locals today are worried for the Irwin family. Peter Muller has gotten to know Terri Irwin through the local Rotary club.
PETER MULLER: She and I have become friends over the years, I'm actually deeply saddened by the whole thing, she's got two lovely children, and having lost my mother very early in my life I can understand how those poor kids are going to feel.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Even the children at the Beerwah kindergarten today are mourning the death of a local hero.
Teacher Michelle Kramer says it's all they're talking about.
MICHELLE KRAMER: We have children who think they are going to be Steve Irwin when they grow up, they talk about him all the time, because he's just... you know, the zoo is just up the road. So the children often go to the zoo, and so yes, they've been all talking about it this morning as well with us.
And we've got some very sad children, and of course we're all just very upset and devastated, it's just tragic news.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: The zoo itself was open for business at nine o'clock this morning.
Councillor Anna Grosskreutz is confident Terri Irwin will keep it going in memory of her husband.
ANNA GROSSKREUTZ: And I know Terri, Terri is a very strong woman, she's a very courageous person, you know, she would be... in the old days, she would have been a pioneer woman.
I know that she will take Steve's legacy, she has the same passion for the community, for conservation and wildlife, and I know that she will just move forward, and as woman of great courage.
ELEANOR HALL: And that's Beerwah Councillor Anna Gosskreutz ending that report from Melanie Christiansen.
Reporter: Melanie Christiansen
ELEANOR HALL: Steve Irwin's death has prompted tears and tributes from all around the world. But nowhere is his death being felt more keenly than Beerwah, the tiny community a couple of hours drive north of Brisbane where the crocodile hunter grew up and built his dad's reptile park into a world-renowned zoo.
Today the town of Beerwah is in shock, as Melanie Christiansen reports.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Since the news of Steve Irwin's death broke, mourners have been arriving at his Australia Zoo, just a few hours drive north of Brisbane.
Family friend Councillor Anna Grosskreutz says it's an amazing sight.
ANNA GROSSKREUTZ: There's people arriving with floral tributes, candles, cards, trees, all sorts of things, that people feel that they can bring to the zoo just to be a part of the grieving, and it's just so sad to see how many people there are just overwhelmed.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Among those paying their respects today was 16-year-old James Anakin.
JAMES ANAKIN: There was never a person like him, a person who cared for animals so much, an I don't think will be ever again, really. You know, what he'd done in his short life, you know, really was incredible, and I just feel like, you know, we've lost an important person from the world, you know. It's definitely changed the world a bit, really.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: The world has certainly changed for the local community, where Steve Irwin grew up after his father moved the family from Melbourne to start a reptile park. It was a childhood Mr Irwin remembered fondly in this interview with the ABC's Andrew Denton. :
____________________________________________________________________
STEVE IRWIN: In my house, when I was growing up, mum would have 12 pouches, you know, make-believe kangaroo pouches set up on the backs of chairs, virtually everywhere. So we'd have 12 little joeys, ranging from little pinkies all the way up to one-year-olds.
You know, koalas hanging off the curtains, you know, with gum leaves stuck in there, sugar gliders gliding through. Like, you'd be walking down through the house... (to cameraman) Stay with me, mate. Where is he?
You're walking down through the house and next minute, clack, you know, on your bare back there'd be a possum - arggh! - rip into you. And, of course, inside the house was just snakesville.
ANDREW DENTON: Really?
STEVE IRWIN: Oh, crikey, mate! Chock-a-block full of snakes.
_________________________________________________________________
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Now those who grew up with Steve Irwin are in mourning. His family has many friends in the small town of Beerwah, just a couple minutes down the road from the zoo.
Geoff Morgan is one of the owners of the Beerwah Hotel.
GEOFF MORGAN: They've really helped put Beerwah on the map, and they've embraced the town, they haven't... I mean a lot of, I guess, big business sort of doesn't... don't worry about the community, and what have you.
But they do a hell of lot for the community, and as I said, have put it on the map by... and all their advertising, you know, Australia Zoo, a Zoo at Beerwah, and you they're almost the heart and soul of the community.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: As well as its biggest employer, Lea Parkes edits the local paper.
LEA PARKES: I guess the thing is, initially the shock, and people wanting to talk, and people... just absolute disbelief, really. And it can't be true, and Steve was invincible, so a lot of grappling with, you know, this can't possibly have happened, not to our Steve.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: She says no one there is unaffected.
LEA PARKES: Everybody in the town has either met Steve, or went to school with him, or knows somebody that knows him, so our... we're very, you know, one degree of separation. So they're very, very close, and obviously that reaction will be strong for those people.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: And many locals today are worried for the Irwin family. Peter Muller has gotten to know Terri Irwin through the local Rotary club.
PETER MULLER: She and I have become friends over the years, I'm actually deeply saddened by the whole thing, she's got two lovely children, and having lost my mother very early in my life I can understand how those poor kids are going to feel.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Even the children at the Beerwah kindergarten today are mourning the death of a local hero.
Teacher Michelle Kramer says it's all they're talking about.
MICHELLE KRAMER: We have children who think they are going to be Steve Irwin when they grow up, they talk about him all the time, because he's just... you know, the zoo is just up the road. So the children often go to the zoo, and so yes, they've been all talking about it this morning as well with us.
And we've got some very sad children, and of course we're all just very upset and devastated, it's just tragic news.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: The zoo itself was open for business at nine o'clock this morning.
Councillor Anna Grosskreutz is confident Terri Irwin will keep it going in memory of her husband.
ANNA GROSSKREUTZ: And I know Terri, Terri is a very strong woman, she's a very courageous person, you know, she would be... in the old days, she would have been a pioneer woman.
I know that she will take Steve's legacy, she has the same passion for the community, for conservation and wildlife, and I know that she will just move forward, and as woman of great courage.
ELEANOR HALL: And that's Beerwah Councillor Anna Gosskreutz ending that report from Melanie Christiansen.