Qld council rejects Steve Irwin memorial

Monday Nov 6 16:29 AEDT
A memorial to honour the late Steve Irwin at the outback town he used as his
retreat from the world has been knocked back by a local council.

The mayor of the south-west Queensland town of St George, Robert Buchan, had
submitted a plan to build a small memorial to the Crocodile Hunter by the
town's Balonne River, near where the Irwin family owns a large property.

It was to consist of a bust, a brief outline of his life and his
contribution to the area, and was approved by the Irwin family.

Mr Buchan said he had hoped the idea would have been the beginning of a
series of memorials along the river to honour St George's "favourite sons
and daughters" along the lines of an avenue of heroes.

It would have been "a shining example of what people can do if they get off
their backsides and do something", he said.

But after rejecting a memorial in September, Balonne Shire Council has just
knocked back a second proposal for a memorial, which Mr Buchan would have
funded himself.

"Steve Irwin, I believe, would be the most well-known Australian ever...
(and) was ridgy didge as we say, fair dinkum, and even that alone was worthy
of recognition," Mr Buchan said.

He said he was ashamed the idea had been knocked back.

Deputy mayor Richard Knights said the idea itself to commemorate Mr Irwin
had been knocked back, not the specific proposal.

He said while council was aware of Mr Irwin's contributions and were
supportive of state government-planned memorials, a local monument was not
appropriate.

"He had property in the area but I think a lot of it stems from the fact
that we haven't really gone down the pathway of recognising other local
people that have made significant contributions to the shire over a
lifetime," Mr Knights said.

"As to whether one person's more worthy than another person, it's not
something we've dealt with yet."

He said there was a possibility that something would be done on a broad
scale to recognise a host of people who had contributed to the shire, of
which Mr Irwin could be a part, but the idea had not yet been discussed.

Mr Irwin, 44, died on September 4 after being stabbed in the heart by a
stingray's barb while diving on the Great Barrier Reef.