Gaffe-prone Prince Philip once famously asked an Aboriginal elder: "Do you still throw spears at each other?".
Ivan Brim jokingly replied that yes, they did.
William Brim, founder of the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park in Cairns, said he and his father were not offended.
"I don't mind - it was quite funny. I found it amusing, but I was rather surprised he said it," Mr Brim said of the gaffe, made during the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh's 2002 Australian tour.
"To me he was just a bit of a larrikin.
"Just observing him during the whole time down at the park, he seemed like a guy that would get on with anybody."
A royal spokeswoman said the prince did not mean to offend anyone.
"It was a light-hearted remark and there are varying interpretations of what was said and, of course, no offence was intended."
Aged 99, the prince died in London on Friday, sending swathes of the Commonwealth into mourning.
He stepped down from official royal duties in 2017, but his offbeat humour and disregard for political correctness reportedly continued behind doors.
He made his mark in a long and, at times, entertaining relationship with Australia.
Knighted by then-prime minister Tony Abbott in 2015, the Duke of Edinburgh played an unwitting role in Mr Abbott's downfall.
Prince Philip had served Australia with distinction, Mr Abbott said in 2015, noting the royal was patron of more than 800 organisations.
"It is fitting that we pay tribute to an extraordinary life of service," Mr Abbott said.
After a public backlash, Mr Abbott later admitted his "captain's call" was a "stuff-up".
"I accept that I probably overdid it on awards," he said.
Prince Philip's Australian connections included his failure to recognise Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett when they met in 2008.
When Blanchett explained she worked in film, he reportedly began talking about his DVD player.
"There's a cord sticking out of the back of the machine. Might you tell me where it goes?"
Mr Abbott, then federal opposition leader, recounted the Blanchett story at a special government reception to welcome the Queen and Prince Philip during their 2011 Australian tour.
"To Your Royal Highness Prince Philip, may I say that you have brought humanity and irreverence to what might otherwise be a stuffy institution," he said.
"Only locals are allowed to joke about our Cate so that makes you at least an honorary Australian."
Prince Philip also poked fun at Australia's richest person, mining entrepreneur Gina Rinehart, when the two met during a garden party in Perth in October 2011.
The Duke made Ms Rinehart laugh, but she refused to say what the royal had said.
A fellow guest revealed Prince Philip had turned to Ms Rinehart, who was wearing a wide-brimmed black hat, and said: "That hat could poke someone's eye out".
Prince Philip's "robust humour" resonated with Australians but his famous propensity for politically incorrect statements perhaps overshadowed other aspects of his impact on Australia.
At the 2011 royal reception for the Queen, then-prime minister Julia Gillard said Australian honoured a wise and gracious sovereign who has spent her life in the cause of duty.
"And we will honour the consort who has stood so constantly at your side, himself a true friend of this country in peace and war; an outstanding supporter of science, innovation, and the education and support of our young people; and man whose robust humour and common sense have always resonated with the Australian character."
During Australia's bicentenary in 1988, Prince Philip was appointed a Companion in the Military Division of the Order of Australia for "service to the Australian Defence Force as Admiral of the Fleet of the Australian Navy, Field Marshal in the Australian Army and Marshal of the Royal Australian Defence Force".
Prince Philip's military service first brought him to Australia, even before his 1947 wedding to the young Princess Elizabeth.
His first visit was in 1940 as a midshipman aboard the battleship Ramilles and the second was in 1945 aboard the Royal Navy destroyer Whelp.
The Duke accompanied the Queen in 1954 when she became the first reigning monarch to visit Australia.
Prince Philip had the royal duty of opening the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and the Commonwealth Games in Perth in 1962.
It was the Queen and Duke's 1970 visit to celebrate the bicentenary of Captain Cook's landing in Australia that introduced the "royal walkabout", allowing the couple to depart from protocol and meet ordinary people.
Gaffes aside, the Duke was not afraid to speak his mind.
A newspaper article during his 1967 visit recorded Prince Philip saying Australia should dispense with the monarchy and become a republic if it felt it was getting nothing out of the monarchy.
"If the monarchy is of value, retain it. If not, get rid of it."
Prince Philip was incensed about Lake Pedder, a glacial lake submerged in 1973 as part of a Tasmanian government hydro-electric scheme.
"The Tasmanian government simply does not understand the point of conservation," he wrote in a letter to then-prime minister Gough Whitlam after returning from a tour of Australia.
The Duke said the issue of Kakadu in the Northern Territory was probably the hottest of the hot potatoes.
"The worst feature of this and the whole situation in the Northern Territory is that it is a direct responsibility of the federal government," he said.
"You may find it embarrassing in the future if the states turn around and draw attention to the federal government's record in this area.
"On the other hand you have a marvellous chance to set an example in the whole sector of special reserves and in their management."
Prince Philip has also left a mark on more than 775,000 young Australians who have completed the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, which started in Australia in 1959.
Australian Associated Press
