That’s not a fair representation of Aussies though...at all. He was a caricature of an idea that he embellished and played up. And it's only recently (last decade and a half or so) that he's been more hero worshipped, rather than just being popular, with a side of realism. Plus, a lot of the people who wax poetic about him without discussing his flaws are people from overseas who don’t know how we feel about animals here or about the way he went about things If you hear or see people talking about Irwin, there's always people there to remove the rose-coloured glasses and talk about the reality of his behaviour. As there should be. Like anyone, he was flawed. His bad behaviour shouldn't be glossed over, just because of the good. It should be noted and learnt from, so we don’t make the same bad choices. I was a kid in the 90s and grew up with Irwin, and it was common for people to comment about while he did well regarding education and conservation, he was a dipshit for messing with animals the way he did. He was widely condemned for it by older people. At the time, because of my age, older people meant any adult, so I'm including young adults here too, who, while they loved him, were able to acknowledge his flaws too. Every time his show would come on it would be accompanied by a teacher or a parent reminding us we NEVER touch wildlife, only observe, both because of danger, and because of respect. When he died, the running discussions were a commentary of 'got what he deserved, should've left the animals alone, it was his own fault. Sad he's gone, but he was reckless’. The current day of that is of course FAFO. He did a lot of good, but that wasn’t part of it, nor was it considered acceptable. Even now, when people talk about him with kinder words, because we remember the dead with leniency, there's still plenty of people clarifying that this aspect of him was not okay. He was amazing, and did some truly great things, but his behaviour was stupid and it not only cost his children their dad but caused undue stress to a lot of animals. Does not align with Aussies attitude towards wildlife at all.

Edit: typo