‘His legacy is love’: Bindi Irwin remembers her father 20 years after his death

September 4, 2026 — 10:15amBindi Irwin has shared a heartfelt tribute to her father Steve, the famous “Crocodile Hunter” who died suddenly 20 years ago, calling him a “superhero” and honouring the loving legacy he left behind.“Twenty years ago today, the world lost the most passionate and dedicated wildlife conservationist. Our family lost our superhero. My mum lost the love of her life; my brother and I lost the greatest dad,” the 28-year-old conservationist wrote on her Instagram story on Friday.Steve and Bindi Irwin at Australia Zoo in 2003.AAPOn September 4, 2006, Steve was fatally stabbed by a stingray off the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas while filming a documentary. Beloved around the world as the famous “Crocodile Hunter”, his unexpected death at 44 sent shockwaves around the world.In her tribute, Bindi, who was only eight when her father died, said she has watched the world mourn Steve alongside her family over the past two decades. Such grief never leaves you, she said, but “where there is enormous grief, there is even greater love”.A screenshot of Bindi’s Irwin’s tribute to her father on the 20th anniversary of his death.InstagramSteve, one of the most famous wildlife conservationists in history, was best known as the host of renowned series The Crocodile Hunter. Audiences became enamoured with his signature khaki shorts and unforgettable catchcry, “crikey”. In 2002, he co-founded the Wildlife Warriors with his wife Terri to protect threatened species and habitats, and he expanded Australia Zoo into a globally recognised tourist phenomenon.Bindi said she initially thought her father’s conservation efforts would be his lasting legacy. However, she has since realised his legacy is, in fact, one of love – love for both the planet and each other.“My dad left a lasting impact so poignant that it will ripple out for generations to come,” she wrote. “I believe with my whole heart that his love will live on forever. In all of us. In every kindness we show to the Earth. And that is a life and legacy worth celebrating.”This love has already had an impact on Bindi’s daughter, Grace Warrior, who never met Steve.“I have a five-year-old daughter who watches his documentaries every morning,” Bindi wrote. “She feels utterly loved by her ‘grandpa crocodile’ without ever having met him.”Steve has become a “guardian angel”, Bindi added, someone who now watches over her daughter.“Dad, I love you with my whole heart,” she wrote. “[Grace] loves you so much. We all do.”Bindi’s mother Terri, who married Steve in 1992, also remembered the Crocodile Hunter on Friday, sharing a video in which her late husband described the “greatest wildlife encounter” he ever witnessed: Bindi’s birth. He explained what it was like helping the obstetrician, a “legend of a man”, pull his daughter out, and the bruises he had along his arms from where Terri had grabbed him.Steve Irwin was known around the world as the “Crocodile Hunter”.Earlier this year, Robert Irwin, Steve’s 22-year-old son who recently hosted the 2026 Logie Awards, shared his own thoughts on grief during an appearance on the CNN podcast All There Is with Anderson Cooper.“I’m always closest to dad when I’m in the middle of nowhere, you know, when I’m out in the bush,” he said. “There are absolutely moments where I’ll be hit with this sense of – it’s warmth, it’s like something kind of wraps around me … and I will absolutely sit and just say, ‘How do I go forward? How do you move forward?’”Over the past few weeks, the Irwin family has been taking part in the annual Crocodile Research Expedition – an endeavour that Steve and Terri began in the late 1990s to help crocodiles and humans coexist. During the expedition in the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve along the Wenlock River in Far North Queensland, they managed to catch and record 32 crocodiles, bringing their total up to 317 crocs over almost 20 years.Since Steve’s death, the Irwins have not only maintained his conservation efforts, but also his pop-cultural force. Australia Zoo has remained relevant largely thanks to the siblings’ ongoing presence on TikTok, and Robert has become a staple on Australian TV thanks to his past roles as co-host of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! and host of this year’s Logies. They’ve even broken onto the global stage, with both Bindi and Robert winning separate seasons of the US Dancing with the Stars.The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday.Nell Geraets is a Culture reporter at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners