Mick Denigan likes his whips, and so do presidents, princes and multinational internet moguls. The US President, George Bush, has a Denigan stockwhip, as does Prince Philip, and Bill Gates. Helen Coonan got one when she became Senate government whip.

Denigan won the stockwhip tender for Baz Luhrmann's movie, Australia , adding Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman to his list. An insider told him the film was less about Australia and more about cracking whips. If that were so, Australia would be a film of Denigan's life.

He's a whip-making machine. His Mick's Whips sell for up to $450 wholesale (retail prices can be double). He paints with whips, writes about whips (his novel is called The Whip Cracker) and he has a giant stockwhip acting as his homestead's gate, an hour's drive south of Darwin.

He's also a whip-cracking teacher. In the last 20 years, he reckons he has taught about 35,000 people across the country how to hold the stock (handle) and crack its thong (the leather tail). On Thursday night, he took up his usual place at Darwin's Mindil sunset markets, and said he taught 30 people the techniques.

Denigan's whip tricks range from the basic "Cattleman's Crack" to fancy manoeuvres such as the "Sydney Flash" and one he claims as his own, the "Northern Star" - all of which he does in the dark; the Northern Territory days are too hot to perform.

Cracking whips at night sounds good, but he wants it to look good, too. He tried glow-in-the-dark whips and strobe lighting, but it's the fire whips - a show he has developed over 15 years - he likes best.

"They are really dangerous, so I don't tell people how to make them," he says. "I've never had a problem because I've taken time to develop it."

He was asked to make a whip for John Howard to present to Bush at his Texas ranch. It took him a day and a half, and he made 15 stocks - covered in crocodile skin - before picking the best one.

He did much the same for about 20 whips for Australia, but he missed out on being Jackman's whipping double. Jackman stands well over 1.85 metres; Denigan is just on 1.8 metres.