True, but the common link between both Chipp and Thiele is their lack of contemporary prominence.The founder of the Australian Democrats, Don Chipp, and author and teacher Colin Thiele have both died in the past week. Both were great Australians. Both deserve better than this circus around Steve Irwin's demise.
As a teenager I remembering repeatedly reading the final pages of 'Storm Boy' just for the emotional response it evoked in me, but these days you'd be hard pressed to get just 3 kids in any high school classroom to have read a page of a Thiele novel. Equally sad, the Democrats barely register a blip on Australia’s current political radar.
Irwin was the modern day Paul Hogan, only he wasn't playing out a film script.
Andy.