[imagesource: AP]

When Rod Ansell headed off into the Australian outback in May 1977, he had no idea what he was setting into motion.

Ansell, born in 1954, told his girlfriend at the time that he would be hunting buffalo in Western Australia for a job, although he admitted years later that he was really poaching crocodiles.

Armed with just his two dogs, a rifle, a knife, a roll of bedding, and a few cans of food, Ansell headed for a remote stretch of the Fitzmaurice River with the goal of reaching the Victoria River.

His motorboat soon capsized, he was left more than 160 kilometres from the nearest permanent human settlement, and his chances of survival were slim.

All That’s Interesting picks up the story from here:

[He] recalled hunting wild buffalo, sometimes drinking their blood to stave off dehydration, and sleeping in trees at night to avoid detection from large crocodiles and dingos.

Emaciated but otherwise healthy, he was eventually rescued when he heard horse bells and found three Aboriginal ranchers and their cattle manager.

Once back home with his girlfriend, Ansell paid little mind to his ordeal and kept it to himself, fearing that he’d only upset his mother if she found out how close he’d come to death.

However, his story was picked up by local media outlets, and then international media outlets.

He was dubbed “the modern-day Robinson Crusoe” and a book and documentary deal soon came along.

He was eventually invited to appear on a popular TV show for an interview in 1981 and had to fly to Sydney:

Ansell was, for one, known for not wearing shoes, and only wore a pair of flip-flops when he boarded the plane to Sydney because the flight attendant said it was a requirement…

Reports of Ansell opting to sleep on the floor instead of the bed of his luxury hotel suite and being fascinated by the room’s bidet caught the ear of actor/writer Paul Hogan, who then set to work on a screenplay.

Enter Crocodile Dundee, which was a smash hit at the box office and spawned three feature films and one spin-off.

At the time the first movie aired in 1986, Ansell was living happily with his wife and two children on a remote piece of land.

His wife, Joanne Van Os, said that during the early years of their marriage the family called a canvas sheet their home, cooked by a campfire, communicated by radio, and had no running water or electricity.

Joanne also said this was a very happy time for the family.

Nowadays, anybody who fights off a crocodile (especially down under) is likened to Dundee (and thus Ansell).

Unfortunately for Ansell, crocs were the least of his troubles.

The similarities between the movies and his story were obvious for all to see, but when Ansell later tried to market his land as the home of the “real-life Crocodile Dundee” Hogan threatened legal action.

He unsuccessfully took Hogan to court but never saw a penny from royalties, was forced to kill 3 000 of his buffalo due to an outbreak of tuberculosis, and fell into financial strife:

Ansell was forced to sell his cattle station and began growing marijuana. A cattle rustling and assault charge followed in the early 1990s and the financial burdens proved too much for the marriage, eventually leading to a divorce.

By the mid-1990s, Ansell had lost one court battle over movie royalties as well as another with the government concerning his buffalo — and he was not handling the losses well.

Having sold his land, he moved to an Aboriginal piece of land south of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.

He also fell into an amphetamine addiction and had regular run-ins with the law.

On August 3, 1999, it all came to a violent head, with this from ReelRundown:

It all began early in the morning at the intersection of Old Bynoe Road and Stuart Highway. This is where a roadblock had been placed. The previous night Ansell had been involved in an altercation with two men. Shots had been fired by Ansell.

At the roadblock, Ansell ambushed two law enforcement officers named Constable James O’Brien and Sergeant Glen Anthony Huitson. Ansell shot Huitson below his bulletproof vest in his abdomen killing him.

Many officers from the Adelaide River Police station rushed to the scene of the gun battle. After several minutes of exchanging gunfire, Ansell was shot and killed.

It was confirmed that Ansell was suffering from amphetamine intoxication before the fatal gun battle. He was in a paranoid psychotic state associated with using this type of drug use.

According to one obituary, Ansell had an affinity with the Aborigines, who had initiated him as a white member of their community.

Reporters who had spoken to him at various points over his life described him as “tough as nails”.

Others said that he could easily have avoided the roadblock with his bush survival skills had he wanted to, and perhaps wanted to die at the hands of police given how dire his life circumstances had become.

Whatever his thinking, it’s tragic that a man who was once so at home in the bush had his life story monetised (from which he never benefitted) and died in the manner that he did.

[sources:allthatsinteresting&reelrundown]