In its heyday, the MV Steve Irwin was one of the most feared vessels in the Southern Ocean a flagship of Sea Shepherd’s anti‑whaling campaigns that rammed Japanese ships, shut down illegal Chinese drift‑netters and helped save more than 6,000 whales over a decade of high‑stakes confrontations. “It was a war down there,” recalls Kerrie Goodall, who has now become the unlikely saviour of the storied ship.
After its retirement in 2019, the Steve Irwin was destined for a scrapyard in Hong Kong. But Goodall, unable to watch “an important part of Australia’s maritime history” be destroyed, bought the vessel for just $10. Since 2022, she and a dedicated crew of volunteers have been painstakingly restoring the ship in Newcastle Harbour, where its blue‑and‑grey camouflage has become a familiar sight.
For years, the plan was to transform the vessel into a floating museum and education space dedicated to ocean conservation. But with the help of volunteer engineer Steve Ward, the team has gone further the Steve Irwin is now sea‑ready once again.
“Every year for 10 years, they went back to the Antarctic and protected the Australian Marine Sanctuary from illegal whaling,” Goodall said. “That is the ship’s claim to fame.”
What began as a rescue mission to preserve history has evolved into a revival. The ship that once battled whalers in icy waters is preparing to return to sea not as scrap metal, but as a living symbol of activism, resilience and Australia’s maritime legacy.
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