Irwin's wife plans low-key anniversary
The family of Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin asked for privacy today, on the first anniversary of the Australian TV presenter and environmentalist’s tragic death.
Irwin’s wife Terri said she would have a low-key day with her daughter Bindi, nine, who has become a major celebrity in the past year with a new television show and fashion range, and son Bob, three.
Reports suggested they were in Terri Irwin’s native US today.
Irwin, 44, died when his heart was pierced by a stingray’s barb while filming on the Great Barrier Reef in northern Australia.
Dozens of floral wreaths, plants and makeshift signs were placed at the front of Irwin’s Australia Zoo in Beerwah, and hundreds more were expected throughout today.
A year ago, there were thousands of flowers that eventually spilled over into the zoo itself in an unprecedented outpouring of grief following Irwin’s death
Terri Irwin has announced on the zoo’s website that she had nominated November 15 as a commemorative day in honour of her late husband, and suggested that everyone wore Irwin’s trademark khaki shirts on that day.
The day was chosen to honour Irwin’s favourite giant Galapagos tortoise, Harriet, who was born on that date and died earlier this year at the age of 176.
Melbourne zoo volunteer Sharyn Wade flew 1,200 miles to Australia Zoo, the Irwin family-owned complex that helped take the Crocodile Hunter from a young, gawky reptile park owner to conservationist and zany worldwide television star.
She was travelling home on a train last September 4 when her sister called to tell her of the tragedy.
“When I was talking, people stopped and listened in, and it went quite quiet on the entire carriage,” Wade said.
“Nobody could really believe what they were hearing.”
Like many others at the park, Wade said she did not want to be anywhere else on the anniversary of his death.
Wade and her 11-year-old nephew, Ben, and a friend went to the zoo an hour before the gates opened.
“We’ll probably just walk around and reflect and feel,” Wade said. “We’ve never been to the zoo before, but we wanted to be here today. We’ve been calling it our pilgrimage.”
