Eric Worrell (1924 - 1987) was an Australian herpetologist and writer who was a pioneer in the production of snake anti-venom in Australia.[1]

Worrell was born in Sydney and grew up in Paddington. During the Second World War he worked as a civilian blacksmith on the installation of shore artillery in Darwin while studying and collecting reptiles.

In 1948 Worrell opened the Ocean Beach Aquarium at Umina on the New South Wales Central Coast. It was here that he first started supplying snake venom to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) in Melbourne. In 1958 he moved to Wyoming, New South Wales, establishing the Australian Reptile Park. It later (1996) moved to Gosford.[1]

In 1970 Worrell received an MBE in recognition of his lifesaving role in the development of snake anti-venoms. In the same year the ARP began supplying funnel-web spider venom to the CSL in the process of developing an anti-venom. He died of a heart attack, aged 63, in 1987.

Apart from numerous scientific papers and popular natural history articles in Walkabout, Wildlife, Australian Outdoors, Pix and People Magazine, books authored, coauthored or contributed to by Worrell include: [1]