Ian Henderson, who has been the face of ABC News in Victoria for more than a quarter of a century, has announced he will bid farewell to his audience next week when he retires after 40 years in journalism.

"Hendo" will present his last 7:00pm television news bulletin next Thursday after a career that has included reporting on some of the biggest moments in modern history.

Having just turned 65, the popular newsreader said he did not have the energy to throw at his job anymore and wanted to spend more time with his grandson and pursuing interests like gardening and bushwalking.

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"I've been aware for some time that I don't have the stamina that I once did," he said.

"The prospect of doing a six-hour live election broadcast does not appeal to me anymore. I don't think I could.

"And I felt very much that if I couldn't deliver the job to that standard, then it was probably time to move on and let someone have a go who could."

Henderson, who has also been presenting the ABC's national news bulletin at 5:00pm, began his career as a cadet with Leader Newspapers in 1978 and took a job with ABC News in Melbourne two years later.

His 38 years at the ABC has taken him to Trades Hall as an industrial reporter, to State Parliament — where he covered the election of John Cain in 1982 — and to Federal Parliament during Bob Hawke's prime ministership in 1987, and then to Europe as a foreign correspondent.

Ian Henderson has been presenting the news in Victoria for 26 years. ( ABC News )

During that posting, Henderson covered some of the continent's biggest events, including the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and he was deployed further afield to report on such history-making moments as Nelson Mandela's release from prison the following year.

But his 26 years as the face of the nightly television news has been his longest stint in one role.

"It's a funny business, presentation, because the longer you do stay there you become like the comfy old shoe or the tracky dacks," he said.

Back in 1992, Henderson was unsure how long he would last in the newsreader's chair. ( ABC News )

"You just feel comfortable with that person so I think that helps your longevity, definitely — the familiarity."

But just six months after taking over from Mary Delahunty as newsreader in 1992, it looked unlikely he would last even a year in the chair.

According to Henderson, ABC management had formed an opinion he was not proving to be a successful experiment and he was asked to consider moving aside.

"I don't like admitting failure so I was quite adamant," he said.

"I said, basically, 'Look, you'll have to drag me out of this, I want you to give me another three months' … and worked really hard on my perceived failings," he said.

"By the end of the year we were rating well and one thing followed another."

From Parliament House to a fault line of history

It was a work trip to Canberra and an outbreak of laryngitis that led to Henderson reporting the biggest story of his career from atop the Berlin Wall.

In 1988, he was seconded to Parliament House for six weeks. At the time, he was applying for the Europe correspondent job based in London.

While Henderson was in Canberra, there was a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting scheduled for the English capital.

Normally the chief political correspondent would have been sent to cover it, but a bout of laryngitis had swept through the press gallery and Henderson was the only one left with a voice. So, he got the gig.

"The weird thing was, as soon as I jumped on the plane I started to lose my voice," Henderson said.

"So I croaked my way through that assignment … but I got to learn a lot about the ins and outs of how the London bureau worked and so I got the job [as Europe correspondent]."

Henderson, his wife and their two young children spent three-and-a-half years in London. He would often work 60-hour weeks, but the job delivered him the standout highlight of his career — covering the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Henderson said covering the fall of the Berlin Wall was a deeply moving experience. ( ABC News )

"You felt you were standing on a fault line of history, feeling the earth shake under your feet," he said.

"To see people actually physically dismantle a barrier that had been a physical and psychological barrier in their lives for so long was deeply moving.

"We have to deal with so many terrible stories in our line of work that to have one that was sort of, almost universally uplifting was quite extraordinary."

Henderson, a cameraman and a sound recordist were in Berlin at the time to cover the Communist Party's announcement there would be free elections in East Germany — a significant story in its own right.

But then they heard something extraordinary was happening at the wall that divided the city. They rushed to Checkpoint Charlie where what looked like 10,000 people had gathered and, by sheer force of numbers, pushed the checkpoint away.

"So the cameraman's gone and popped me up on top of the wall and said, 'You sit up there and say something'," Henderson said.

"It wasn't the most polished piece to camera I've ever done, but it was one of the ones I'll certainly remember the most because if I hadn't been up there I couldn't have done it because of the sheer press of people."

By midnight that night, Berliners were standing on top of that wall, hacking at it with pickaxes.

'I'm not the messiah, I'm just a naughty boy'

Henderson never aspired to be a television newsreader. He'd rather be known as a good journalist.

Henderson's reporting has taken him around the world. ( ABC News )

Getting out from behind the desk and reporting from Victorian communities devastated by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires is among the work he is most proud of.

"That opportunity to get out there with communities that were really hurting, and really having to pull together to get through this crisis, and sort of feel that you were there muscle and sinew with them … was, again, something I'm very proud of and, again, something I'll never forget," he said.

"It was quite an emotional experience."

Now, Henderson will resume that position on the other side of the desk, this time at home, as a loyal ABC viewer. But he has not precluded himself from taking on new projects to put his journalistic skills to use.

He said he would remain happy to meet viewers who had welcomed him into their homes for so many years.

"I've never been budged off my view of the ABC audience by people I've met because they're not the starstruck audience of a commercial program," Henderson said.

"They are smart, intelligent, measured people in their own right and when they say 'hello' it's always charming.

"I've never felt put upon and I've always felt enlivened by that contact."

Henderson said he no longer had the stamina for marathon election-night broadcasts. ( ABC News: Natasha Johnson )

ABC News director Gaven Morris said Henderson had a unique connection with his viewers, who would miss having him on their screens.

"As well as being a favourite with viewers, Ian is an integral member of the Melbourne news team," he said.

"His editorial decision making, writing skills, smooth presentation and passion for the job have made him an asset to the ABC."

Henderson will say goodbye when he presents his final television news bulletin next Thursday night.

For now, he is leaving the audience with a message inspired by Monty Python.

"I'm not the messiah, I'm just a naughty boy … and I'm looking forward to being able to express that side of myself a little more than I have been able to," he said.

Henderson's replacement is yet to be announced.

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