The "King Brown" has a largely undeserved reputation for ferocity. If they are unduly harassed, they will defend themselves, but
I have generally found them to be fairly laid back snakes. I was wishing I had a tilting live preview screen to go with my 60mm
Macro lens when I photographed this wild specimen late at night, miles from anywhere so I didn't have to kneel so close to it.

We both survived this encounter. The snake was about 1.5 metres in length.