Professor Grahame Webb graduated from the University of New England with a PhD in Zoology - specializing in reptiles - in 1973. That same year he joined Professor Harry Messel, from the University of Sydney, in a bold and innovative new research program on saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) in the Northern Territory of Australia (NT). In 1973 the wild population of "salties" across northern Australia was extremely depleted, and they were still being legally hunted in Queensland. They had been protected in Western Australia (1969) and the NT (1971) for a few years. The few remaining adults were rare and well hidden, yet some were nesting successfully. Despite high egg mortality, due mainly to flooding, hatchlings were surviving. It would later be learnt that 12-16 years were needed for those hatchlings to reach maturity - so a real population recovery would take a long time. For a zoologist, who had specialised in reptiles, researching saltwater crocodiles was a remarkable but challenging undertaking - physically and scientifically - studying the recovery of the population and describing the basic biology: growth, movement, dispersal, survival rates, anatomy, physiology, morphometric relations, nesting biology, foods and feeding, abnormalities, injuries, behaviour, etc. In 1977, Prof. Webb left the University of Sydney program but continued to research crocodiles in the NT. As an interim measure he established a small private company, the forerunner of Wildlife Management International Pty Limited (WMI), while operating as an honorary research fellow at the Australian Museum and then at the University of New South Wales. At that time there was no University in the NT. In 1978 WMI was engaged by the NT Government to research the endemic Australian freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni). At that time, they were one of the least studied crocodilians in the world. Once again the work involved quantifying the status of the wild population (protected in the NT in 1964) and describing their ecology, natural history and population dynamics. By the early 1980s, Prof. Webb had experience with detailed research on two very different species of crocodilians - a rarity at that time. By 1980, the build up of juvenile saltwater crocodiles, many now exceeding 2 m long, started to concern the public. More so when four serious attacks, two of which were fatal, occurred in 1979-80. Dr. Webb became more involved with championing the cause of saltwater crocodiles. However, he soon accepted that a new approach to management was needed if the public was ever going to tolerate large wild populations of large saltwater crocodiles. The approach tested was to make them economically valuable to the community. To maximize the number of people employed through crocodiles and the wealth they could generate for the Northern Territory. This ruffled the feathers of some conservationists, but in Prof. Webb's opinion, there was only one issue at stake - would it work? Developing and implementing a management program for saltwater crocodiles involved integrating the efforts of many people involved with crocodiles. On behalf of the Northern Territory Government, Prof. Webb made a strong commitment to public education, to ongoing research on the status of crocodiles in the wild, to historical research (how abundant were crocodiles historically?), to captive husbandry (the first private crocodile farms had been established) and to ongoing biological research with both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. By the mid-1980s it was clear that the strategy was working. If the public valued crocodiles for economic reasons, added to their other values, there was public support for their ongoing recovery. By this time, Prof. Webb and WMI staff had established an international reputation for their work and skills. WMI had originally started as an interim administrative arrangement to facilitate ongoing crocodile research. Using a private company as a vehicle for such activities, rather than operating through a conventional institution, was unusual, but it had turned out to be effective in terms of staff satisfaction and work output. WMI's Chief Scientist, Charlie Manolis, joined the WMI team in 1980. The 1980s also saw WMI become increasingly involved in international issues associated with the conservation and management of crocodiles. WMI were the architects of Australia's successful submission to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to transfer the Australian population of saltwater crocodiles from Appendix I to Appendix II, which once again allowed international trade to take place in skins produced through the NT management program. The philosophy of conservation through sustainable use, pioneered in the NT by Prof. Webb, was increasingly being recognised internationally as a valuable potential tool for promoting effective conservation with other animals. Rewarding people for their efforts to conserve animals, rather than penalising them, simply makes good sense. Through the 1990s, Prof. Webb, Charlie Manolis and other WMI staff became increasingly involved in the international debate on sustainable use, while still advancing research in wild and captive crocodiles. They were increasingly drawn into other wildlife conservation and development problems involving conflicts over conservation and development. Situations in which attitudes were polarised, and where middle ground was difficult to find. This involved active participation in what was becoming a new and challenging field nationally and internationally - biopolitics. By the start of the 1990s, it was becoming obvious that the availability of public funds to support ongoing contract research, especially of long-term studies, was in decline. For WMI to sustain its ability to continue with research, serious changes would be needed. The decision to restructure and reorganise WMI was made, with a view to broadening its scope of operations and reducing its dependence on any single client. The concept of "Crocodylus Park" evolved from that process.   By 1990, WMI staff had been working on crocodiles for 17 years. The status of the wild saltwater crocodile population had improved greatly in the NT and they now were being proactively managed, within a wildlife conservation and management program that was increasingly attracting international attention. Economic incentives were working, fuelled by commercial crocodile farms and an expanding tourism industry. The scientific knowledge base on wild and captive crocodiles, of both species, had expanded by orders of magnitude since 1971. WMI had established themselves as world leaders in crocodile conservation, research and management. Yet despite this hard-earned leadership position, WMI were convinced that the NT was not using crocodiles to their full potential. The ability to expand the local NT crocodile industry, as was occurring elsewhere in the world, was constrained by the availability of stock, by captive breeding and raising technologies, by availability of food sources and by fear of competition amongst local operators. Added to this were changing priorities: crocodiles were no longer endangered, and some considered that crocodile research was no longer a priority. There were two other nagging problems. Firstly, the immense amount of new scientific knowledge about crocodiles that had been generated since 1971 was largely unavailable to the public. It was buried in the scientific literature that few could access. Secondly, on a global scale there was no recognized centre of excellence for conservation, management and research into world crocodilians. Dr. Webb and WMI staff hatched a bold plan to address issues within one initiative. To build in Darwin, an international research centre of excellence, on crocodilians - the World Crocodile Research Centre. A centre that would house and research all twenty-two species of world crocodilians. The focus of major research efforts would remain the two Australian species, where research into captive breeding and raising were still urgently needed. If this research was carried out on a large enough scale, sufficient hatchlings could be produced for Government to be able to seed new farming enterprises, so the industry could expand. The NT Government supported the proposal for a joint facility, and WMI began the detailed planning. But as often happens with visionary projects, political support started to wane. For WMI, already committed to the project, the decision to continue alone was a major one. It required a complete review of plans and potential income streams, because as contract research declined so tourism would need to become a major income stream - Crocodylus Park was born. On 29 August 1994, Stage 1 of Crocodylus Park was officially opened by the then Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Marshal Perran. It included a comprehensive crocodile museum through which the staff of WMI were able to extend to the public the results of over two decades of research. There was no other museum like it, anywhere in the world. Outside, there were saltwater and freshwater crocodiles of all ages and sizes. From small hatchings and one-year-olds to giant 4-5 m specimens, caught in the wild and relocated into sophisticated, unitised breeding pens. The breeding pens constitute 5-star accommodation for 20 pairs of crocodiles, and they are used for research, production and tourism. With public education as a major focus of Crocodylus Park, a commitment was made to free guided tours, in the morning, midday and afternoon, where all visitors get the chance to learn about crocodiles - and build on what they have see in the museum - and ask questions from tour guides all well acquainted with crocodiles. Crocodylus Park proved both popular and successful, but it soon became apparent that the public wanted to see more than crocodiles. At that time in the Northern Territory there was no major zoo with any exotic animals. Children in Darwin could not see a lion or monkey. Once again WMI decided to expand the scope of Crocodylus Park, firstly by introducing a range of different monkey species, obtained from other zoos around Australia, and then by building a series of displays of large cats, including tigers, lions and leopards. It all added to the success of Crocodylus Park and gave the public what they wanted. Crocodile production at Crocodylus Park was reasonably modest affair in the early days. However, a new company was formed (The Wildlife Company) to manufacture products from the skins produced. The Wildlife Company continues today, with the product range expanding continually. Conservation programs based on sustainable use dependent on the final marketing of products, and for WMI it was considered hypocritical to promote sustainable use but avoid trade in the products derived from it. WMI have been carrying out the wild saltwater crocodile egg collection in areas of the NT used for monitoring since 1979, and when Crocodylus Park opened, were on-selling hatchlings to various commercial farms. In 2002, commercial competition for the monitoring areas meant that WMI had to decide whether to expand crocodile production or abandon the monitoring after two and a half decades. It was decided to expand crocodile production and with that came a significant expansion of in-house research on crocodile rearing. Today, Crocodylus Park is the centre of WMI's activities, within and outside Australia. As Prof. Webb is now Chairman of the IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group, it is also the centre of a great deal of crocodile conservation work being undertaken around the world. Tourists visit Crocodylus Park to see crocodiles "close-up", to learn about their biology and ecology, to ponder the educational material in the Museum, to see the collection of other animals on exhibit, and to have their curiosities satisfied with any questions. Increasingly, functions are held in Crocodylus Park during the day or at night, because it provides a unique atmosphere, especially for visitors to the Northern Territory's "Top End". Crocodylus Park receives no Government funding. Its commercial viability and WMI's ability to continue with crocodile research, depends largely on the income earned through tourism, consulting, products and increasingly crocodile production. Crocodylus Park is totally owned and operated by WMI, and is a source of great pride to all of its staff.