Dear webmaster,

 

I am Australian, more a Queenslander who grew up around all those animals that Steve Irwin introduced to the rest of the world, so there are just a few things that you should know about Steve Irwin, and correct a few things in your article about him.

 

Steve was NOT a popular person inside Australia, most of us thought of him as little as we could, his shows, documentaries, etc were NOT shown on Australian tv, beyond one or two specials.  He was Australian, but not a celebrity icon here as he was overseas.

 

The park his parent's owned is NOT Steve Irwin's park.  He bought and created his own park, Australia Zoo, at a time when his parents park was still operating.

 

"Crikey" is a word that was in use long before Steve Irwin made it internationaly recognisable, and to most Australians, it wasn't a catchphrase, it was an irritating, frustrating thing to hear or for someone to say.  That sort of language is only heard in Australia far out in the bush or on farms, it is not, and has not been for well over a century part of the common Australian vernacular, to say it is in common parlance today is wrong and insulting, as the use of that sort of language has a "red-neck hillbilly" implication attached to it in Australia.

 

Steve Irwin's character to most Australian's was embarrasingly anachronistic.  To a culture that was once defined internationally by "crocodile dundee" he once more introduced the world to that accent, which most of us DON'T possess and to an "Australian" stereotype that is misrepresentative of the Australian national character and identity.

 

I do not deny Irwin's fame or popularity around the world, and will quite happily say he had some modest success here at home.  For most of us, he taught us NOTHING we didn't already know, as here we are ALL brought up from infancy with a respect and caution when dealing with Australian native wildlife.  Our arguments against him came from this.  We already know that we live in and around the most deadly animals on earth, we know that it is literally suicide to annoy them, or even observe them without proper precautions.  We know that crocodiles HAVE and WILL eat small children, we hear reports on it happening to unwary tourists all the time here in Australia.  Irwin constantly and consistently disregarded safety and set an poor example for people on how to deal with said wildlife, as for taking his child into the crocodile enclosure, he of all people ought to have known better.

 

We critisized Irwin because of his disrespect for his own life, the life of his children and showing the world that being unsafe when dealing with deadly wildlife was "cool".  The end result is this, Irwin lost his life to a Sting-ray barb in a 'one in a million' chance freak occurence, that SHOULD have and COULD have been prevented if he'd worn a wetsuit.  This lack of prudent caution sadly cost him his life.

 

All that being said, I personally respected Irwin for his work on conservation, environmental issues and here in Australia, the only regular appearances he had on television here were commercials on bringing an understanding and awareness of Australian Quarantine laws and regulations to the Australian public.  For his many efforts people around the world regarded him as a kind of hero.

 

That he taught the rest of the world how amazing Australia is, is undeniable, that he brought a sense of wonder to a largely jaded globe about the natural world as a whole was nothing short of amazing, that he brought conservation and environmentalism to the world stage was nothing short of impressive.  He taught the world about Australia being one of the last relatively untouched, naturally beautiful, albeit deadly paradises in the world.  We Australian's tend to take that sort of thing for granted, but then again, we already live here.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Anthony

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

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About Facts Net Response
Ken the webmaster speaks out

I appreciate a well written letter even if I don't agree with it in whole or part. When I researched the article I used world wide press releases and a few reference works. If these sources contained erroneous statements I apologize. If not, maybe the author of the letter is mistaken in some facts. Either way, I thank him for this well written response and giving me permission to publish it.