Mike, the older half of television's legendary Leyland Brothers, who brought every corner of Australia into the lounge room, has died.
The family announced that 68-year-old Mike passed away on Monday morning following complications from Parkinson's disease.
Mike and Mal, explorers and documentary film-makers, were the creators of the long-running television show Ask The Leyland Brothers.
At its peak, the weekly show, which ran from 1976 to 1984, was watched by more than 2.5 million people.
Shot on Super8, it featured the brothers in unusual or far-flung places around the vast Australian continent which viewers had asked them to visit.
The brothers were awarded the MBE in 1980 for services to the film industry.
Mike was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about two years ago but had suffered most in the past two months, his stepdaughter Sarah said.
"Everyone is quite upset about the whole thing ... obviously Mike was an icon in Australian documentaries and a fabulous person as well," she told Macquarie Radio.
"Mum has spoken to (Mal) several times today so we will be getting together at the end of the week to celebrate Mike's life."
Mal Leyland told the ABC he and his brother had delighted in inspiring others to get out and see Australia.
He said although it had been a drawn out battle he was still in shock over his brother's death.
"About three years ago he started to show the early signs (of) what they called rapid onset Parkinson's and he ended up with dementia as well at the end associated with it," said Mal.
Mike was eight and Mal five when they migrated with their parents in 1950 from England to Newcastle in NSW, where Mike lived for the rest of his life.
Childhood friend Keith Davey, who went on to become the pair's cameraman for about six years in the early 1960s, said their interest in documentaries began as teenagers watching early David Attenborough programs.
"Even at that early age that's what we wanted to do when we grew up," he told Macquarie Radio.
"They were absolutely iconic and they were the first of their kind ... other people came after them and mimicked them but I really think Mike and Mal were trendsetters at the time.
"What they tried to do was give ... a film that the average person could relate to, rather than the slick documentaries that you get now ... as though you could shoot it yourself and be there yourself."
Mr Davey said some of their earliest films included a trip down the Darling River from the NSW/Queensland border to Victoria, and a west-east crossing of Australia in 1968.
Mike Leyland is survived by his wife Margie, his daughters Kerry, Sandy and Dawn, his stepdaughters Sarah and Alison, and seven grandchildren.
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