Steve was born into wildlife, growing up on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, helping his parents at the ‘Beerwah Reptile Park’. Established in 1970, this two-acre wildlife park was home to native wildlife such as lace monitors, tiger snakes, freshwater crocodiles, magpie geese and kangaroos. Many of the kangaroos were cared for in homemade pouches by Steve’s mum, Lyn. She was an extraordinary wildlife rehabilitator and was quite skilled in nursing injured and orphaned animals and sending them back to the wild.
Steve demonstrated an uncanny gift with wildlife from a very young age. He would go on field trips with his family right through the seventies, helping to relocate problem crocodiles, studying snakes in Queensland’s deserts and assisted the university with bird surveys.