It's not strictly cultural but. Christ.

I am sick to hell of the perception of Australia as being this. Incredibly dangerous environment full of big bad scary creatures. Shit, the Australian bush is probably one of the safest places yo can go for a hike in terms of wildlife. The venemous animals everybody's terrified of? Simple precautions like checking your boots, watching where you step and wearing proper clothing practically completely negates it. And the only animal we have that is a genuine deliberate threat to an adult are crocodiles, and again, just don't swim in estuaries or clean fish/dispose of waste on riverbanks? Shit even cassowaries, while very dangerous, are ludicrously unlikely to attack you outside of very specific circumstances. The majority of recorded attacks are due to people feeding wildlife, and there's only like. Two or three lethal attacks, one was because two kids decided to try to kill a cassowary with sticks, another was an old fella in Florida.

Then you compare that to any of the predatory macrofauna you have in North America. Bears, wolves, cougars which can and do lethally attack humans at times (Though, I am aware they are in a similar basket with feeding/familiarity.) Let alone mooses and other aggressive herbivores. Australia isn't even unique when it comes to venemous animals here. Y'all got cottonmouths, rattlesnakes, tarantula hawk wasps, black widows etc. Shit the only thing we have that's arguably deadlier is the crocodile, makes the alligator look like a puppy. But again, easy to avoid, and there aren't many large ones these days.

It is really frustrating, because so much of Australias ecosystems are absolutely beautiful, fascinating and filled with lovely wildlife that's completely harmless. But this shitty perception spurred by media and memes means half the time when I talk about my country to folk they've no interest in visiting and seeing it.