February 22, 1962: Stephen Robert Irwin born to Lyn and Bob Irwin near Melbourne in Australia's southern Victoria state. A few years later his father, a wildlife enthusiast, moved the family to Queensland state and started a small reptile park at Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast.

1980s: Volunteered for the Queensland government's crocodile relocation programme, trapping problem crocodiles and removing them from populated areas.

1991: Irwin took over the park when his parents retired and began building Australia Zoo into a tourist icon.

1991: Irwin meets Terri Raines, a tourist from Eugene, Oregon, whom he marries six months later. The footage from their honeymoon becomes the first episode of "The Crocodile Hunter," which airs in Australia.

1992: "The Crocodile Hunter" is picked up by the US Discovery Network and shown worldwide.

2001: Irwin makes a cameo appearance in the Eddie Murphy film "Dr Dolittle 2," in which he attempts to wrestle an alligator and loses an arm.

2002: Irwin releases his first feature film "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course," an Australian production set in the Outback in which he mistakes CIA agents for poachers and sets about trying to stop them from catching a crocodile that has swallowed a tracking device.

January 2004: Irwin provokes an international outcry after being filmed holding his 1-month-old son, Bob, while feeding a snapping crocodile. Local authorities and children's rights groups say the incident is tantamount to child abuse. Irwin responds by saying he was in "absolute and complete control."

June 2004: Irwin was investigated for a possible criminal breach of wildlife laws after allegedly clowning around with whales and penguins while filming a documentary in Antarctica. He was cleared of wrongdoing, escaping a possible US$769 million fine and two years in prison.

(China Daily 09/05/2006 page6)