Subject: Crocodile Hunter Fatherhood Legacy
From: <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 07:44:29 +1000

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Issue 211 - 11 th September, 2006 	Go to our website Here
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*	Hello Warwick
*	Grandads
*	Laughter
*	Single Dads 
*	All you need is Love
*	Thought of the Week
*	Special Feature
*	News & Info
*	Dad's Prayer
*	Help Us

Hello Warwick

 

<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/Steve%20irwin_wi
fe.jpg> I can't say that I was a big fan of Steve Irwin's but this week
I became a true believer. They say it's not what a man does that is
important but what he leaves behind when he steps off this planet.
Sadly Steve Irwin stepped off the planet way too soon. Stingray
fatalities are very rare. I think three, ever recorded in Australia, but
Steve Irwin was third in line.  Ironic that it was a stingray and not a
crocodile, but life is never fair. Steve's death proves the point.

We will all step off the planet one day but, as a father, what legacy
will we leave behind when we go?  Three hundred million people stopped
their day last Wednesday to find out what Steve Irwin had left behind
when his Memorial Tribute was beamed by satellite around the world.
John Williamson's iconic song, 'Hey true blue, is it me or you? Is it
Mum and Dad, is it a cockatoo? Is it standing by your mate when he's in
a fight or will she be right?' echoed across the planet asking all the
right questions.  Russell Crowe said, "We have all lost a friend, we
have all lost a champion." Cameron Diaz said, "Every kid was in love
with the idea of being able to be him." Hugh Jackman said, "Steve showed
us we can all live like warriors, and we can make the world a better
place." Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, said, "Steve Irwin
touched the hearts of Australians and touched the hearts of millions
around the world . . . because he had that quality of being genuine, of
being authentic, of being unconditional and having a great zest for life
and throughout his all-too-short life he demonstrated a love for the two
things that ought to matter more to all of us than anything else - his
love of his family and his love of his country."

Perhaps the most revealing tribute was paid by Kevin Costner who said,
"Where he is the most fearless is that he let us see who he was and
that's being brave in today's society because . . . you show yourself to
so many people willing to mimic and mock you." Steve Irwin certainly had
many mockers, especially here in Australia.  Many thought he was a bit
over the top, and maybe so, but that was who he was. That is what
captured people's hearts. The last time people were so touched with
someone's death was that of Princess Diana.  Cameron Diaz was right -
'children loved him'. When children love you, that's always a good sign.
Jesus said you must become like a child to get to heaven.  Kostya Tszyu,
World Champion boxer said about Steve Irwin, "He was first and foremost
still a kid at heart. I've known Steve for quite some time - he came one
day to my place with Russell Crowe. I have quite a few animals in the
house and he would jump and play with the rabbit like he was a real kid.
It was amazing. He was so real, he was not a fake."

'You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can?t fool
all the people all the time'. Most of all you can't fool your own
children. Children will eventually see through pretence. That's why
being a father is so scary. You can't hide yourself, you have to be
real. You have to be who you are, yourself. And if who you are is not
good, you have to be prepared to change.  It is so important to commit
to changing for the better because your children need to know that you
are on a journey, and that you enjoy the challenge.  The journey is
called 'life' and the challenge is to live each moment and enjoy it like
a child. This is what our children teach us every day if we allow them
to.

Really it was Steve Irwin's eight year old daughter Bindi who said it
the best:
<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/Bindi%20Irwin.jp
g> 

"My Daddy was my hero - he was always there for me when I needed him. He
listened to me and taught me so many things but most of all he was fun.
I know that daddy had an important job. He was working to change the
world so everyone would love wildlife like he did. He built a hospital
to help animals and he bought lots of land to give animals a safe place
to live. He took me and my brother and my mum with him all the time. We
filmed together, caught crocodiles together and loved being in the bush
together. I don't want daddy's passion to ever end. I want to help
endangered wildlife just like he did. I have the best daddy in the whole
world and I will miss him every day. When I see a crocodile I will
always think of him and I know that daddy made this zoo so everyone
could come and learn to love all the animals. Daddy made this place his
whole life and now it's our turn to help daddy." 

 

Lovework

Talking about Steve Irwin with my family, I asked my 19 year old son
what he would say about me when I died.  He couldn't answer me because
he said, "You're not dead yet!" 

What is the message for you this week? Listen to your children and have
fun with them no matter how old they are, because when you are dead and
gone they will say what's in their hearts, and that is the greatest
legacy you can leave behind when you leave the planet.

Yours for the legacy of love

Warwick Marsh

PS We would like to give our friends all over Australia advance notice
about the visit to Australia of Brian Molitor from the Malachi Global
Foundation, USA. Malachi Global www.malachiglobal.org
<http://www.malachiglobal.org/>   is very similar in its thrust to the
Fatherhood Foundation. Brian's dream is to 'turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children'.  For this reason we are calling his short
speaking visit to Australia in October, 'Turning Hearts 2006'. Brian
Molitor will be conducting seminars on the topic of 'Boy's Passage Man's
Journey' in Wollongong, Perth, Kalgoorlie, Sunshine Coast, Hobart and
Melbourne.  The title is taken from his book, 'Boy's Passage Man's
Journey', published in 2004, Emerald Books www.koorong.com.au
<http://www.koorong.com.au/>   and deals with the subject of lifelong
mentoring, words of affirmation and blessing spoken by a father, and
rites of passage. 

Steve Irwin left a legacy for his children. Come along to one of these
seminars with Brian Molitor and find out how to leave a legacy for your
children.  Further details are found in the News & Info Section.

You might not be able to catch a crocodile, but we can all learn how to
catch our children's hearts. Steve Irwin, you were a great dad and we
honour you mate! Warwick Marsh

___________________________________________________________

Warwick Marsh  has been married to Alison for 30 years. He is 
the father of five children, four boys and one girl, ranging in age from
25 years to 13 years.  Warwick is a musician, songwriter, producer and
public speaker who likes to think he can still laugh at himself.

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Grandads

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You can't do much about your ancestors

but you can influence your descendants

ENORMOUSLY

Anon

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Laughter

Kid's Prayers - 2
 
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Single Dads 

 

Dads lost in cloud cuckold land
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September 05, 2006 12:00am Herald Sun, Melbourne

Father's Day was happy for most fathers, but a day of anguish for those
whose children had died because of illness or accidents.

And fathers who do not have contact with their children because of
divorce. 

In this group there is a sub-section, whose grief is compounded by
paternity fraud. 

These fathers have been cuckolded, deceived by their wives into
believing the children were theirs when they were fathered by other men.
The word cuckold is derived from the cuckoo, which places its eggs in
the nests of other birds. 

The plight of one such father is being considered by the Australian High
Court. 

Liam Magill married Meredith McClelland in April 1988. 

Their first child was born in April 1989, their second in July 1990 and
their third in November 199l. 

In November 1992, Meredith left the family home taking the three
children with her. She said she was not happy. 

Two days later, she applied for child support for all three children.
Liam and Meredith were divorced in February 1998. 

Liam paid 32 per cent of his gross salary from November 24, 1992 until
September 1999, when he could no longer work because of depression. 

At one stage, the Child Support Agency left Liam $132 a week on which to
survive. This increased later to $200 a week. On this meagre amount, he
had to cover living expenses and weekend access visits of the three
children. 

Financially crippled, Liam could not cope and that is where Liam's story
might have ended, another victim of "no-fault" divorce and a pawn of the
CSA. 

However, in February 1999 Liam met Cheryl King, who has been his
tenacious friend and adviser since. 

Like me, Cheryl loathes injustice. She urged Liam to get the children
DNA tested. This process took almost a year. 

In March 2000, the tests showed the two younger children were not his. 

Meredith then told her children that her friend, Derek R, was their
father, even though he was not tested for another 17 months. 

In 2002, Liam sued his ex-wife for damages caused by deceit and in
November 2002 Judge Hanlon in the Victorian County Court awarded Liam
$70,000 in damages, excluding child support payments he had made. 

In December 2002, Meredith's legal team, funded by the Victorian Women's
Legal Service (ie, the taxpayer) appealed against Judge Hanlon's
decision. 

The appeal was heard in November 2004 and, in March last year, the
Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal allowed Meredith to win on a
technicality. 

In mid-2004, before the hearing of Meredith's appeal, Derek R and his
wife moved to Southport, Queensland. 

Liam's friend Cheryl considers the CSA has not done enough to make Derek
R pay for his two children, or to refund the payments made for years by
Liam Magill. 

In November last year, permission was given for Liam's appeal against
the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal to be heard by the High Court. 

The High Court Appeal was heard in April this year but the decision has
not been handed down. 

Some issues remain unresolved. Why has the CSA not refunded the money
extracted from Liam Magill for children he did not father? 

Why has the CSA not obtained these arrears from the biological father? 

And why are we taxpayers, through the feminist Victorian Women's Legal
Service, involved in helping an unfaithful wife defraud her husband? 

Paternity fraud is not merely financial, but goes to the heart of
relationships between husband, wife and children. 

The feminist attitude seems to be that which is described in Helen
Garner's book, The First Stone, about a case of sexual harassment: "He
may not be guilty, but other men are so he has to pay." 

I hope Premier Bracks, Attorney-General Hulls and Federal Minister
Hockey, who oversees the CSA, had a happy Father's Day and will end the
victimisation of Liam Magill. 

Perhaps by establishing a men's legal service for victims of paternity
fraud. 

[email-masked] 

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All you need is Love

Baby Boomers Marriages Go KABOOM

By Michael Kiely
<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/middle%20age%20c
ouple.jpg> 

Many more long term marriages are falling apart in Australia, reports
the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The figures show the number
of couples who have divorced after at least 25 years of marriage has
increased by 50% since 1985, rising to 16% of all divorced couples by
2004. And demographers predict it could get worse because many baby
boomers now in their early 50s were married before the Family Law Act
1975 brought in no-fault divorce. Pairing up in the late 1960s and early
1970s, when divorce was still a social taboo, in many cases they endured
a not-so-wonderful marriage for 30 years. Midlife crisis brings time to
re-evaluate what they want in the next 30 years. The Australian Bureau
of Statistics reports the number of men aged 50 to 59 who are divorcing
has also almost doubled, from 10.6% in 1985 to 19.7% in 2004. Same for
women.In 1985, the number of females aged 50 to 59 granted a divorce was
6.9%. By 2004, that had risen to 14.8%.

Counselling services report more older couples seeking help with their
relationships. People are living longer and they know that their
marriages are going to go on for longer. They'll be married without
children longer than ever before.

In an ageing population, in that last phase of married life - the
longest - people are confronted with issues like declining health and
retirement. Couples are thrown together and don't know how to deal with
each other. Many marriages don't survive.

The baby boomers were the last generation to marry young. In 1971 the
average bride in Australia was 21 and the average groom was 23. After
that, in the 1980s and 1990s, no one got married that young. The stigma
of divorce has also dissappeared. Bernard Salt, a demographer, told the
Sydney Morning Herald:

"It's like freedom for the last generation who were caught in an
old-world social paradigm of a 21-year-old girl announcing her
engagement on her 21st birthday, getting married before she was 22,
pregnant by 23 and living with this guy for 30 years," he said. "She
turns 50 and she thinks, I'm just not happy, and could not have made
that decision [before] because of her values, her mindset, her
upbringing, because of the social stigma of divorce, because of the
children, because of financial reasons. The gap grew over rearing of
kids and kept on widening."

When my wife of 25 years told me she wanted out of our marriage, it hit
me like a bombshell. I felt alone and isolated. Now I know that many men
of my generation are going through the same thing. (That's why I wrote
my book Man Overboard: A Self Defence Course For Men In Marriage) 

http://manoverboardbook.blogspot.com/  

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Thought of the Week

 
<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/bob%20irwin_dad.
jpg> 

I'd look up at my dad and he was larger than life,

he was just like this action hero.

He was everything I wanted to be.

And all I've done in my life is follow in his footsteps,

mimic him and try to be him.

And nowadays I just try to make him proud, mate.

Yeah, I love my parents like nothing else.

Steve Irwin (6/10/03)

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Special Feature

 

My Daddy was My Hero
<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/Bindi_steve%20ir
win.jpg> 
by Ray Chesterton - Daily Telegraph September 20, 2006

HER father was Australia's wildlife warrior and eight-year-old Bindi
Irwin showed she had inherited his courage when she fearlessly told the
world how much she loved and missed him. 

Dressed in khaki, she came to the stage with confidence and left to a
standing ovation after speaking lovingly of a father who was her idol
and the need for his conservation work to continue.

"When I see a crocodile I will always think of him," she told 5000
mourners at Steve Irwin's memorial service and millions more watching
around the world on television.

"My daddy was my hero. He was always there for me," she said, standing
in front of a picture of her father at the zoo's Crocoseum.

"He listened to me and taught me to do many things. But most of all he
was fun.

"I know that Daddy had an important job. He was working to change the
world so that everyone would love wildlife like he did."

That love was celebrated when zoo staff paraded animals including three
elephants who had captured the Croc Hunter's heart.

Native birds, including black cockatoos and rosellas, were released into
the Crocoseum.

Ironically, cockatoos were the one animal Irwin claimed he hadn't
managed to befriend.

"They always bite me. A cockatoo once tried to rip the end of my nose
off. I don't know what they've got against me," Irwin once said.

Bindi was watched by her mother Terri, who was nursing her four-year-old
son Bob on her lap. Terri was unable to speak publicly about the trauma
of Steve's death on September 4 from a stingray barb, but Bindi told of
the passion her dad had for his family.

"He took me and my brother and my mum with him all the time. We filmed
together, caught crocodiles together and loved being in the bush
together," she said.

"I don't want daddy's passion to ever end. I want to help endangered
wildlife just like he did. I have the best daddy in the world and I will
miss him every day.

"I know that daddy made this zoo so everyone could come and learn to
love all the animals. Daddy made this place his whole life and now it's
our turn to help daddy."

Mourners captivated by her poise rose to their feet applauding, many
with tears in their eyes, as Bindi's last words floated away.

Steve was represented by a poignantly empty seat next to his wife Terri.
As videotaped reminiscences and condolences were played from celebrities
around the world, including Hollywood heavyweights Russell Crowe, Kevin
Costner and Cameron Diaz, it was the local tributes that lingered.

And that included Irwin himself, his foibles and skills given full rein
in screened highlights of his shows that caused smiles.

A blooper tape showed him falling out of boats, taking lunch orders from
the TV crew, muddling his lines and getting bitten.

There were also tear-inducing revelations from Irwin about his mother
Lyn and father Bob on a video that will now be an emotional and
priceless family heirloom.

"I was born on my mother's birthday. The devastating loss of my mum
knocked the wind out of me for a year. It can devastate you for a long
time but you owe it to the person to get up and get going again," he
said.

Irwin said his father's love of nature had been his own inspiration: "He
is my hero, my icon and my mentor."

Later Bob Irwin would tell the service: "Don't grieve for Steve. He's at
peace now. Grieve for the animals. They have lost their best friend. And
so have I."

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News & Info

<http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20312376-421,00.html> 

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20A4%20Poster%20Warwick%20FINAL.jpg> 

29 October - 01 November 2006 
The Men's Advisory Network (MAN) 

Conference "From Babies to Blokes: The Making of Men" 

The Men's Advisory Network (MAN) is conducting a conference of national
significance on the theme "From Babies to Blokes: The Making of Men" to
be held at the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle from 29 October to 1 November
2006. 

The conference will have six streams: 

*	Conditioning of infant boys 
*	Development of boys 
*	Transition from boyhood to manhood 
*	Men and work 
*	Men and relationships 
*	Men and ageing 

Speakers so far confirmed include: 

*	Bettina Arndt 
*	Professor Konrad Jamrozik 
*	Ian Lillico 
*	Greg Mitchell 
*	Dr Michael Nagel 
*	Kieren Perkins 
*	Dr Shaun Ridley 
*	Dr Arne Rubinstein 
*	Dr Norman Swan. 

Register at: wwww.promaco.com.au/conference/2006/man/
<http://www.promaco.com.au/conference/2006/man/ > 

Any assistance that you may be able to give in assisting to promote the
conference would be greatly appreciated. 

Gary Bryant 
Executive Officer 
Email: [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]>  [email-masked]
<mailto:[email-masked]>  
Website: www.man.org.au <http://www.man.org.au/>  www.man.org.au
<http://www.man.org.au/>  

__________________________________________________
 
  Inquiry into Child Support Legislation   Amendment (Reform of the
Child Support  Scheme - New Formula and Other Measures)  Bill 2006 

The Senate, on the recommendation of the Selection of Bills  Committee,
has referred the provisions of the above Bill to the  Committee for
inquiry and report by 10 October 2006. 

The Committee invites written submissions relating to the Bill which
should be lodged by Friday, 22 September 2006. The Committee prefers to
receive submissions electronically as an attached document - email:
[email-masked]
<mailto:[email-masked]>  - otherwise by fax (number 02
6277 5829). 

The Committee intends to hold a public hearing on the Bill in Melbourne
on 29 September and in Canberra on 4 October 2006. 

Should you require further information please contact the Committee
Secretariat on: 

Committee Secretary 
Community Affairs Committee 
Department of the Senate 
PO Box 6100 
Parliament House 
Canberra ACT 2600 
Australia 

Phone: 02 6277 3515 
Fax: 02 6277 5829 
Email: [email-masked]
<mailto:[email-masked]>   

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Dad's Prayer

 
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pg> 

Dear God

Thank you for Steve Irwin.

He loved the animals you love

and taught others to do the same.

Still it seems so sad that

you don't get the credit

for all the hard work you did

making our beautiful planet.

You made every crocodile,

every cockatoo, every fish,

every plant and every kangaroo.

Why do people worship the creation

and not the Creator?

Every building has a Builder.

Every painting has a Painter.

Every design has a Designer.

Every child has a Father and Mother.

How could we forget your work 
to make us all?

Then you put up with our poor memory of all that you've done?

Maybe it's your incredible ability

to look for the good in us

even when it's hard to find.

Maybe you know how forgetful we are

Of your amazing goodness and forgiveness

that keeps on growing in spite of our bad memories.

So, while I remember,

Thank you for your wonderful creation.

I don't want to forget to be thankful for it again.

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Help Us

Click here for more information about us
<http://www.ausheart.com.au/fathers/about/index.html>  

Help Us!

The Fatherhood Foundation is a Harm Prevention Charity. 
Fatherlessness and inadequate fathering has been proven to be a source
of harm. 

The Fatherhood Foundation helps children by promoting excellence  in
fathering. Excellent fathers are in word and deed: responsible,
involved, protective, loving and committed to the well-being of their
children and their children's mother.

If you would like to give financially to the Fatherhood Foundation
Public Fund and receive tax deductibility:

Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund 
(Name, address and amount details must be emailed for a receipt for tax
deductibility)
Westpac Branch Wollongong
BSB: 032 695
A/C: 25-5558 

Or mail cheque and address details to:
PO Box 440
WOLLONGONG  NSW  2520
AUSTRALIA

The Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund  is a public fund listed on the
Register of Harm Prevention Charities under Subdivision 30_EA of the
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

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