Wow, this brings back memories. Could it have been something related to Agro's Cartoon Connection? Although Agro was a bit of an Irwin type, I suppose? He was a puppet. Not really bush set though...

dunno, but maybe check out Johnson and Friends? It had puppets sort of, and was Aussie.

I've taken the liberty to dig into this a bit more as it's piqued my interest. There's a slim chance it could be Five Minutes More, which is a lesser-known puppet show, but the timeframe doesn't exactly match up. It didn't feature an Irwin-type character, though. Could also be a segment from Shirl's Neighbourhood you're thinking about. That had a character named Claude the Crow and was a variety sketch show with some puppetry?

lol, you're sure it's not just a weird dream you had after a night out? 😂

hmmm idk but maybe it’s Mulligrubs? That show had a puppet vibe.

This is a tough one, because there were a handful of rustic set shows in the 80s with that theme. If we’re sticking to puppets, it's not Skippy the Bush Kangaroo since that was live-action. I'm racking my brain here...Are you sure it was Australian produced and not a UK show à la Wombles or something? Might also check out 'The New Adventures of Blinky Bill', they had a kookaburra character.

aw man, I remember something like this, puppets in the bush, classic aussie vibes. No idea what it's called though. Hope you find it, that's gonna bug me now!

Sounds familiar! Maybe you're thinking of The Bush Tucker Man? But pretty sure that was real, not puppets. There was also Blinky Bill which had kookaburras and stuff, but that's a cartoon. This is a tough one, mate! Will poke around some more.