However now the offending phrase, 'Where the bloody hell are you?' has been emblazoned across full-page advertisements in the British press with full approval of the regulators.
The cheeky slogan has also been cleared for the print, online and cinema arms of the campaign.
So Australian Minister for Tourism Fran Bailey has gone to confront British officials over why it was banned from television.
Mrs Bailey launched her bid to have the television ban overturned from the Tourism Australia offices next to the Australian High Commission on The Strand in London.
She will meet officials from the British Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) but she acknowledged it would be a "big ask" to have them reverse the ban.
She cited a 1983 Paul Hogan ad for Fosters and a 1998 Toyota advertisement which used "bloody" both of which were allowed on British television.
"We're proud of this campaign, we know it's a cheeky campaign but it's designed to cut through," the minister said.
"You have to look at the context in which the word is used and it fits in with the overall theme. It's allowed in cinemas, online and in print, which is such an anomaly."
The dedicated website for this campaign had received more than 30,000 hits from the UK even before the launch, with Tourism Australia officials no doubt keen to fan the flames of the BACC controversy that has brought it to the attention of the British public.
The A$180 million television campaign features natural Australian icons such as beaches, the Great Barrier Reef, the outback, Sydney Harbour and Uluru.
The ads end with a girl in a bikini saying "we've saved you a spot on the beach", before she poses the colourful question, "Where the bloody hell are you?"
However Tourism Australia was apparently warned months ago that the ads would breach a list of words that can not be used in ads in Britain.