Terri Irwin said Robert Irwin is carrying his father's legacy in a way Steve Irwin never could. Speaking at the Steve Irwin Gala in Las Vegas on May 2, Terri, 61, and Robert, 22, reflected on how far the family business has come since Australia Zoo began with two acres, a few animals and no filming.
“Everything started so small,” Terri said, describing the zoo's early days before it grew into a far larger operation. She said Steve embraced that growth and praised what the family built together. “It was two acres, it was a few animals, and it was no filming. And so to see where we've gone, and to have Steve embrace that, was so impressive,” she said.
Steve Irwin died in 2006 after being stung by a stingray barb, and Terri said the years that followed were marked by both loss and purpose. “It was a lot of work, it was a lot of grief. There were times of great joy. And to be able to have shared that with him was incredibly special - and carry it on,” she said. The comments came as the family gathered in Las Vegas to highlight how Steve's work continues through Australia Zoo and the next generation.
Terri also pointed to one trait Robert has that his father did not. “But I will say the one thing that Robert's got that Steve didn't - Steve never took his shirt off for wildlife,” she said. Robert, for his part, said he is doing “whatever gets the job done” and that his late father will always be his “greatest inspiration.” He said Steve would set the standard by showing “what it is to give everything 100 per cent,” adding, “You know, if you have a passion, you really owe it to yourself to give it everything.”
The exchange offered a clear answer to the question hanging over any discussion of the Irwins' future: Robert is not trying to copy Steve, but to carry the mission forward in his own style. That distinction matters because the family is now far beyond the two-acre start that Terri described, and the work of preserving Steve's legacy depends on how convincingly the next generation makes it their own.