Soon to celebrate his 80th birthday, photographer Michael Jensen , above , whose snaps helped promote Australia , including Qantas , overseas , is on a mission . He is planning to get a group of veteran photographers together to contribute to a proposed exhibition in Canberra .
Jensen was 22 when he came to Australia from Denmark in 1966 with a cousin. "I was a boat person, " he recalls, with a distinctive laugh. Media assignments he later worked on included arrival of Vietnamese refugees by boat in Australia .
After a short stay working in a darkroom in Australia, Mike went back to Europe and worked as a photographer on newspapers .
Then it was back to Australia , engaged by the Australian News and Information Bureau . Over the years he had two terms in Darwin with the organisation .
At one stage , intending to live permanently in Darwin , Mike , accompanied by another cousin, towed a boat across Australia from Canberra to the Top End .
A close friend in the Territory was German wildlife ranger Frank Woerle ( 1931-2015) , based at Cannon Hill , a keen photographer of the wildlife and country . He had been a croc hunter, pearl diver and buffalo shooter who rode a Harley Davidson motorbike to the Territory .
Woerle wrote several books and his photos were used in posters and prints . In l987 Colin Thiele wrote his autobiography, Ranger's Territory: The story of Frank Woerle.
Still in a jovial frame of mind , Jensen points out he has a large number of photographs he took of the Darwin rocksitters club , a group of diverse locals , including politicians , who sat on rocks at East Point at sunset and drank as the sun sank into the sea . The rocksitters of Darwin raised much interest overseas , New Zealand included .
One sitter , another renowned photographer , Barry Ledwidge , addicted to Vegemite, a friend of Mike's, still in Darwin , has a large Cyclone Tracy collection . Bazza Ledwidge became internationally famous for leading the rocksitters ice hockey team , which had no ice on which to play, and challenged leading overseas teams to come to Darwin and play the zany daring locals.
During Mike's time in the Top End he travelled far and wide , taking spectacular and unusual photographs for feature articles written by journalists to promote Australia overseas .The writer of this post used to rescue and save discarded photos from Jensen's wastepaper basket.
MIke became the ANIS chief photographer in Canberra , where he lives.
Right now he plans to go through his photographic collection and put it into order with the help of another photographer friend, Barry Le Levre , who also spent time in Darwin ,and is a Canberra resident .
