Iconic New Zealand comedian and actor John Clarke has died during a hike in an Australian Park. He was 68.

The comedian, known for his iconic role as Fred Dagg, died on Sunday while hiking in the Grampians National Park in Victoria, confirmed an ABC spokesperson to Sydney Morning Herald.

The spokesperson said he died of natural causes.

John Clarke was best known in New Zealand for his portrayal of Fred Dagg (Photo / NZ Herald)

A family spokesperson has released a statement saying Clarke died doing one of his favourite activities.

“Beloved husband of Helen, father of Lorin and Lucia, grandfather of Claudia and Charles and father-in-law of Stewart Thorn.

“John died doing one of the things he loved the most in the world, taking photos of birds in beautiful bushland with his wife and friends. He is forever in our hearts.

“We are aware of what he has meant to so many for so many years, throughout the world but especially in Australia and New Zealand. We are very grateful for all expressions of sympathy and love which John would have greatly appreciated.”

The statement was released via the ABC on behalf of his family.

Clarke, who was born in Palmerston North but spent much of his time in Australia, became known for his comedy character Fred Dagg on stage and screen in the late '70s.

 Prime Minister Bill English tweeted his sadness for the comedian.

Sad to hear of the death of John Clarke, aka Fred Dagg. His humour captured the experience of life in NZ and Australia.

— Bill English (@pmbillenglish) April 10, 2017

Leader of the Opposition Andrew Little released a statement on Clarke.

“I grew up with Fred Dagg and I am devastated by John Clarke’s death. He taught us to laugh at ourselves and more importantly laugh at our politicians.

“Fred Dagg was his greatest creation and inspired a whole generation of comics and for the first time headlined political current affairs shows pricking the bombast on both sides of the House.

“Fred and his seven sons all called Trevor went on to create one of New Zealand’s all-time best musical sellers with ‘Fred Dagg’s Greatest Hits’ and the iconic song ‘We don’t know how lucky we are.’

“We lost John and Fred to Australia where he went on to great things with a berth on ‘A Current Affair’ and mockumentaries like ‘The Games’.

“I extend our condolences to John’s family and friends on the loss of a great Kiwi. We know how lucky we were."

Clad in gumboots and a black singlet, Dagg was played with such conviction that to many New Zealanders, he was a real person.

But when Clarke relocated to Australia in search of creative greener pastures in the late 1970s, he took his cherished Kiwi icon with him.

He left with a sense of disillusionment stemming from a run-in with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC).

John Clarke as Fred Dagg, Kiwi cultural ambassador extraordinaire.

"In a place the size of New Zealand there is only one game in town and if you are not allowed to do it, what can you do?'' Clarke said in a Listener interview in 1990.

"There's no structure to what I do and no school you can go to, to get a qualification. That's the challenge. You have to carve out different territories and stick different survey pegs in them.

"That was difficult to do in New Zealand where I dealt with directors who thought they were comic geniuses and regarded me as a hired hand.

"I have never had those problems in Australia.''

Although it has been years since New Zealanders have had a glimpse of Dagg, Clarke has kept popping up in different guises to remind his birth country that our loss was Australia's gain.

Anyone who saw him play the comic foil to Sam Neill's fallguy in the 1990 Australian film Death in Brunswick will testify to the universal appeal of his laid back style, deadpan delivery and comic timing.

After settling in Melbourne, Clarke became such a hit on Australian television that cross-dressing comic Barry Humphries described Clarke as "Australia's best humourist".

Clarke became known to many Australians for his five minute satirical spots on Channel Nine's Friday news programme A Current Affair since 1989.

He was also co-wrote ABCTV's The Fast Lane from 1983-85, as well as co-wrote and appeared in ABCTV's The Gillies Report from 1985-86.

Death In Brunswick aside, Clarke's film credits included Lonely Hearts (1981), Footrot Flats (1985), A Matter of Convenience (1987) and Blood Oath (1989).

He once said: "The danger that I might go to America and become a multi-millionaire sex symbol is minimal.''

Clarke was born in Palmerston North - "not Vienna'' as he quaintly put it - in 1948. He went to primary school in Palmerston North before going to Wellington's Scots College, after which he spent 14 months working on a shearing gang.

"My teachers mistook my indolence for rebellion and I was often caned. At one stage I held the world record. When I left secondary school I knew roughly what I knew when I left primary school plus how to shave," Clarke said.

In between time spent on a law degree and Bachelor of Arts - completing neither - he performed in satirical revues while at Victoria University in Wellington.

On the revues he worked with "some very talented people" including Ginette McDonald, Tom Scott and "a brilliantly funny young man, Paul Holmes".

After a year at the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC), a bored Clarke went to London.

"When I left my file said that I should not be employed under any circumstances whatsoever."

From 1971-73, he "swanned around" Europe and held a lot of itinerant jobs in England before returning convinced that New Zealand was ready for satirical innovation.

The Fred Dagg character was born and promulgated between 1973 and 1977. There were radio, TV and stage shows as well as record albums.

Although Fred Dagg became a runaway success, Clarke again fell foul of the NZBC.

"I was put off air once and prevented from making a series because someone said it didn't work.

"In the end I realised I would have to go to a country where I could explore more forms."

In 1996 National Radio's Kim Hill asked Clarke if he left New Zealand with ill-feeling towards the NZBC.

"No, not at all,'' he said. "I had ill feelings before I left."

Clarke also published books for a living. Publications included A Complete Dagg in 1989, The Complete Book of Australian Verse in 1989 and Great Interviews of the 20th Century in 1990.

In 1973, he married Helen McDonald with whom he had two daughters.