Strictly no advertising!Steve Irwin's zoo wins top tourism award
Sunday Nov 11 11:06 AEDT
Australia Zoo, the home of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, has won Queensland's top tourism award.
The wildlife park, created in 1992 by Irwin and now run by his widow Terri, was named Queensland's major tourist attraction at the 2007 Queensland Tourism Awards in Townsville on Saturday night.
Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said Australia Zoo was the clear market leader in the state's tourism industry.
"Australia Zoo has become an iconic attraction that has always looked to the future by incorporating new attractions," Ms Boyle said.
"I warmly congratulate Terri Irwin and her team. It's a popular winner and an inspiration to everyone in the industry."
The other major winner of the night was Warner Village Theme Parks chief executive John Menzies, who was honoured for his outstanding contribution to the state's tourism industry.
Warner runs a number of theme parks in Queensland, including Sea World, Movie World and Wet'n'Wild on the Gold Coast.
"John has worked his way up the ranks from his early days as a performance water skier to building up Seaworld to a world-class attraction, helping to develop Hamilton Island and overseeing the inception of Warner Brothers Movieworld," Ms Boyle said.
More than 200 entries were received for this year's awards, which were dominated by north Queensland operators
Steve Irwin's zoo wins top tourism award
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Irwin awarded professorship at UQ
Irwin awarded professorship at UQ
Wednesday Nov 14 20:53 AEDT
Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has been posthumously awarded an adjunct professorship by the University of Queensland, a day before he's remembered on Steve Irwin Day.
Irwin's wife Terri was presented with the award from the university's School of Integrative Biology while father Bob Irwin and staff from Australia Zoo watched on.
"I think that this would be such a tremendous honour to Steve," she said.
"This will be something the Irwin family will treasure forever."
She said that while she was proud of what her husband had achieved, she was excited about the future of the research project he had helped start.
The presentation followed a public lecture by Irwin's friend and colleague Professor Craig Franklin focusing on Irwin's contribution to crocodile research, including a project which tracked crocodiles' underwater movements from space.
He said the groundbreaking project had discovered wide travelling patterns - up to 900km - and that crocodiles had highly developed instincts which allowed them to find their way home after being relocated hundreds of kilometres away.
Prof Franklin said many of Irwin's fans underestimated just how much he had really contributed to conservation.
He said Irwin had "a long history" of publishing research papers and journals, and had even discovered a new breed of turtle - named Elseya Irwinii - in Queensland's Burdekin River 10 years ago.
Irwin had also achieved the extraordinary feat of being awarded an Australia Research Council linkage grant, he said.
"They're highly prestigious ... and that's quite something for someone who's outside of academia to be named investigator on such a grant," he said.
The award was a pre-amble to Thursday's Steve Irwin Day celebrations, which will centre on the Irwins' Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast.
The day has been set aside to remember Irwin, who died when he was stabbed by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary off the north Queensland coast.
Thousands of fans will join the Irwin family at a special tribute concert where his nine-year-old daughter Bindi will perform three new songs and Olivia Newton-John will also sing.
Terri Irwin will launch her new book, My Steve, as well as a yet-to-be-revealed "special tribute" to her late husband.
Wednesday Nov 14 20:53 AEDT
Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has been posthumously awarded an adjunct professorship by the University of Queensland, a day before he's remembered on Steve Irwin Day.
Irwin's wife Terri was presented with the award from the university's School of Integrative Biology while father Bob Irwin and staff from Australia Zoo watched on.
"I think that this would be such a tremendous honour to Steve," she said.
"This will be something the Irwin family will treasure forever."
She said that while she was proud of what her husband had achieved, she was excited about the future of the research project he had helped start.
The presentation followed a public lecture by Irwin's friend and colleague Professor Craig Franklin focusing on Irwin's contribution to crocodile research, including a project which tracked crocodiles' underwater movements from space.
He said the groundbreaking project had discovered wide travelling patterns - up to 900km - and that crocodiles had highly developed instincts which allowed them to find their way home after being relocated hundreds of kilometres away.
Prof Franklin said many of Irwin's fans underestimated just how much he had really contributed to conservation.
He said Irwin had "a long history" of publishing research papers and journals, and had even discovered a new breed of turtle - named Elseya Irwinii - in Queensland's Burdekin River 10 years ago.
Irwin had also achieved the extraordinary feat of being awarded an Australia Research Council linkage grant, he said.
"They're highly prestigious ... and that's quite something for someone who's outside of academia to be named investigator on such a grant," he said.
The award was a pre-amble to Thursday's Steve Irwin Day celebrations, which will centre on the Irwins' Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast.
The day has been set aside to remember Irwin, who died when he was stabbed by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary off the north Queensland coast.
Thousands of fans will join the Irwin family at a special tribute concert where his nine-year-old daughter Bindi will perform three new songs and Olivia Newton-John will also sing.
Terri Irwin will launch her new book, My Steve, as well as a yet-to-be-revealed "special tribute" to her late husband.