Community
19 December, 2024
Farewell Henry
ONE of the most famous birds in Australia and a beloved Port Douglas icon – Henry the cockatoo – has died at the age of 70 at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures.
For more than 40 years, Henry the cockatoo and Davvyd ‘The Birdman’ Brown, 83, travelled around Australia bringing joy to people with their shows and tricks.
They were also one of the quirkiest and most beloved pairs in Port Douglas where they lived for nine years, hosting art classes for kids at the marina and taking photos with the community.
Mr Brown said last week Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures staff told him Henry, who had been living at the wildlife park for the past 10 years, had died.
“It’s been very difficult, Henry was my best friend, my income, my 24-hour companion,” Mr Brown said.
“He brought happiness to hundreds of thousands of people. I have newspaper cuttings, letters from children and thousands of photographs that show it,” he said. “Henry met celebrities, he was inducted as the Gold Coast’s mascot in 1994, and he even was in a Disney movie, ‘George of the Jungle 2’, back in 2003, which took two months to record.
“He was such a character, very talkative and very wild. I tamed him and trained him and we were unstoppable together.”
Mr Brown’s first encounter with Henry came in the 70s on the Gold Coast.
Mr Brown said one of the workers at his late restaurant chain ‘Davvyd’s’ on the Gold Coast left a cockatoo at his door after she was fired.
“He must’ve been around 10-years-old,” he said.
“She left it there for me and he was as vicious and wild as could be. I tamed him.
“He used to sit on the bust of Michelangelo’s David at the bar in the restaurant and he’d say things like ‘I could talk, can you fly?’ to people.
“I don’t recall what year we moved to Port Douglas but we lived there for about 10 years,
“I had a studio and gallery and I used to take Henry with me to the Sheraton Mirage hotel where I would teach kids and have Henry do tricks.
“Thanks to Henry and our photography business I was able to buy a house, he was my way to make a living and also my best friend. Children loved him.
“I have pictures of him with Prince Andrew, George Clooney, Elle McPherson and thousands of pictures of him with people.
“Ten years ago I sold him to Hartley’s because I was retiring and then I moved to Palm Cove.
“I visited him often but he would scream and it was too hard on him.
“Henry was a world-renowned bird and the most famous in Australia. He was loved by everyone and I’m going to miss him very much.”
Read More: Port Douglas
