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An Apollonaut travel guide
The story behind the zoo.
A family reptile park, a television series watched around the world and a wildlife hospital offer several ways into the story of Australia Zoo.
On this page
A family reptile park
Bob and Lyn Irwin opened the Beerwah Reptile Park in 1970 on two acres in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. In the 1980s it doubled in size and became the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park.
Their son Steve grew up at the park, joining field trips to relocate crocodiles and study snakes.
The Crocodile Hunter
Steve Irwin took over the park’s management in 1991. After he and Terri married in 1992, their crocodile rescue mission became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter, and as the series grew in popularity the park was renamed Australia Zoo.
After Steve’s death in 2006, the road past the zoo was renamed Steve Irwin Way.
A wildlife hospital
In 2004 Steve dedicated the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital to his mother, Lyn. It began in an avocado packing shed; the zoo says the hospital now rescues, rehabilitates and releases more than 7,000 native animals a year.
This history belongs to the zoo and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
