Steve Irwin's memorial service
ABC.co.au
This morning, millions of people around the world joined the
Irwin family in celebrating the life and passion of Steve Irwin.
The moving one-hour memorial service brought tears of sadness
and laughter to the faces of many loca crowd members
as they viewed the event at home, in the Crocoseum,
and at big screens across
Joanne travelled from Kingscliffe with her two children, Rhys and Phoebe, to the Southbank Piazza to watch the service. "I actually travelled up last night and stayed at a motel nearby so we
could be here this morning, early, and I’m glad there’s still plenty of seats
because I would have been disapoointed if I couldn’t
get one here," said Joanne.
For Joanne, a trip to the Piazza was a close second-best to
actually becing at the Crocoseum.
"I would have loved to have [been there]," she commented, "but I
heard the ticket lines were so long and because there was such a limited
number, I knew they would have gone fairly readily, so I though this was the
next best thing; to be with like-minded people to say farewell to Steve."
Melissa Power was first in line at the
During the service, Steve's father Bob expressed the
family's appreciation for the outpourings of sympathy from around the world.
"On behalf of Terri, Bindi and Bob, and my two
girls, Mandy and Joy, I’d like to thank all of you for your kind thought,
letters, flowers and sympathy. Please don’t grieve for Steve he’s at peace
now but I’d like you to grieve for the animals. The animals have lost the
best friend they ever had, and so have I."
Dr Eve Fesel of the Gubby Gubby people (the
traditional owners of the
"At dawn, the magpies sing, and by dawn, the black
cockatoo wing their way across a sunny sky. The koala, possum, dingo and carpet
snake are silent on the land below. A mist covers the mountains. We and our
land are crying for you," she announced in English and her native
Aboriginal language.
"We join now with the people here in sending the
ancient call of the Gubi Gubi
and the modern call of the
A composed and articulate Bindi
Irwin paid a touching tribute to her father. "My Daddy was my hero. He was
always there when I needed him. He listened to me and taught me so many things,
but most of all he was fun. I know that Daddy had an important job; he was
working to change the world so that everyone would love wildlife like he did.
"He built a hospital to save wildlife and he bought
lots of land to give animals a safe place to live. He took me and my brother
and my mother with him all the time. We filmed together, caught crocodiles
together and loved being in the bush together. I don’t want Daddy’s passion to
ever end. I want to help endangered wildlife just like he did. I had the best
Daddy in the whole world and I will miss him every day..."
Steve's favourite Australian
musician, John Williamson, performed two songs: Home among the gum trees, and
Steve's favourite, True Blue.
Afterwoods, John commented that it
was a difficult performance. "That was one of the hardest. Everywhere you
looked, there were people in tears all day, so it was very hard to keep it
together...
"I only just managed to [hold it together] obviously,
the thing to do is to just think of the family and Steve himself, and just take
on his strength and the family’s strength, and that’s all you can do because
you don’t want to muck it up for them. Whether there was
200 million people or 10 people listening on TV, it didn’t matter, it’s for the
family."
I don’t want Daddy’s passion to ever end. I want to help
endangered wildlife just like he did
David Wenham, who read Rupert McCall's A
tribute to Steve Irwin, echoed John's feelings about the performance. "I
think it’s very difficult to deliver that material in this environment and not
get emotional... It’s got to be the hardest gig I’ve ever had to do in my life,
without a doubt."
A new song dedicated to Steve had its world premiere at the
service; You changed the world was written by Mark McDuff and performed by local singer Daniel McGahan.
"This was really a song for Steve," explained
Mark, who had worked with Steve and John Stainton on
a number of previous projects. "Obviously it was for this show and John
sort of rang up a few days ago and said, 'This is what
I need, I need a song’ and after many attempts to write a song for Steve, the
pressure was on really, and this was pushed out."
Daniel had also worked on previous shows with Mark and
Steve. "I was doing a little bit of work with Mark and the Bindi project and a travel show, and then obviously this
happened and Mark talked to me about doing it and we went ahead," said
Daniel.
"Daniel was one of the few people I thought could
actually carry it off," responded Mark.
However, the service concluded with another song, John
Williamson's True Blue, as Steve's truck, driven by Steve's 'right-hand croc
man' Brian Coulter, made its way through a guard of honour
made up of the croc crew, made its way out of the Crocoseum.