She savaged Steve Irwin, the all-Australian adventurer killed by a stingray, as a tormentor upon whom the animal world had finally taken revenge.

Now the arts scene in Australia has taken its revenge upon Germaine Greer, the academic, writer and feminist who has made a career from controversy.

The National Portrait Gallery has taken down its serene photograph of Professor Greer and replaced her with a photograph of Irwin, in a tasteful lime shirt, his arm resting on the trunk of an elephant.

The switch might be seen as a triumph from the grave for Irwin, who met his death while filming off the Queensland coast last September.

A day later Professor Greer wrote a withering article that tore apart the reputation of Irwin and vexed many Australians. “There was no habitat, no matter how fragile or finely balanced, that Irwin hesitated to barge into, trumpeting his wonder and amazement to the skies,” she wrote.

“There was not an animal he was not prepared to manhandle. Every creature he brandished at the camera was in distress. Every snake badgered by Irwin was at a huge disadvantage . . .

“The animal world has finally taken its revenge upon Irwin, but probably not before a whole generation of kids in shorts seven sizes too small has learnt to shout in the ears of animals with hearing ten times more acute than theirs, determined to become millionaire, animal-loving, zoo owners in their turn,” she wrote in The Guardian.

A spokeswoman for the National Portrait Gallery said yesterday that the demise of Professor Greer and the rise of Irwin had occurred because public demand for a portrait of the crocodile hunter had outstripped that for the feminist.

The state-owned gallery, owned by the Australian Government, occupies one of the most highly regarded venues in Canberra — the first Parliament House.

Its chief patron is Janette Howard, wife of John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia, who was once described by Irwin as the greatest leader the world had seen.

The gallery denies that there was any motive — other than public demand for the Irwin portrait — to replace the Greer painting. “It was totally coincidental,” a spokeswoman said. Works were changed around regularly “because of light levels — it was just time for one to come down and another to go up.”

There had been strong public demand, she said, to display the Irwin portrait, taken in 2005 by Robin Sellick, the Australian photographer. The Greer portrait, by Jacqueline Mitelman, dates back to 1988.

“There was so much interest in Steve Irwin that we wanted to get him up straight away — there was no other intention at all.” In London, a spokesman for the National Portrait Gallery said: “We do have a portrait of her, by Paula Rego, that is on display, but we have no plans to take it down.”

Professor Greer, for once, was speechless, issuing a curt “no comment” through her agent yesterday.

Pen pictures

Steve Irwin Born February 22, 1962, in Essendon, Victoria

Grew up on family reptile park. Footage of his honeymoon became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter, a series which was eventually broadcast to 500 million people in 137 countries. On September 4 2006, filming at Great Barrier Reef, stingray’s barb pierced his chest

Left two children, Bindi, 8, Bob, 3

Germaine Greer Born January 29, 1939, in Melbourne

Went to convent school and University of Melbourne

Left-wing activist in Sydney. PhD for thesis on Shakespeare's early comedies from Cambridge, where she joined Footlights drama society

Her feminist book The Female Eunuch was published in 1971 to huge acclaim

Appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, 2005, and walked out after just five days

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