There was a sort of Australia love in the late 80s. Crocodile Dundee and Quigley Down Under came out pretty close together. Also, my wife worked at The Limited (clothing store) on Madison Avenue back then and they had a line called Outback Red. There may have been other Australia-based films back then too.
This sort of second wave of Australia love we're going through currently reminds me of the late 80s.