05-Aug-99 08:26 pm Regular International DUNDEE CHARACTER A DRUG TAKING LONER WITH ENEMIES
Darwin, Aug 5 AAP - The model for Crocodile Dundee turned out nothing like the larrikin character made famous in Paul Hogan's blockbuster film. Once a bushman hero, 44-year-old Rod Ansell had become a drug-taking loner with enemies, according to those who knew him. Ansell died this week in a gunfight with police after going on a shooting rampage the night before at a house south of Darwin. Why he attacked the house and then lurked in bushland off the Stuart Highway for 12 hours before shooting dead a well-loved policeman is still a mystery. And just how Ansell, who was barefoot and without a vehicle, got to the bushland of outer Darwin from his home 600km away at the Urapunga cattle station near the Gulf of Carpentaria is under police investigation. One thing is clear, Ansell was not popular in recent years. He was known as a skilled bushman and buffalo hunter who was Territorian of the Year in 1988 for being the inspiration behind Crocodile Dundee. But many were shocked that Ansell was the gunman who injured a civilian and fatally shot 38-year-old police sergeant Glen Huitson on Tuesday. Sgt Huitson was about to receive a bravery award for disarming a gunman who had threatened a busload of tourists in the Northern Territory earlier this year. Moments after killing Huitson at a roadblock on the Stuart Highway, 50km south of Darwin, Ansell, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and a rifle, was shot dead by constable Jim O'Brien. Police said today they had not established whether Ansell was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time. But according to colleagues he was known as a drug taker. ``I knew he was on drugs,'' a fellow buffalo hunter told AAP today. It was a sad end to an adventurous life. When the excitement over the 1986 blockbuster film Crocodile Dundee subsided, Ansell was often in the media promoting the buffalo industry. He owned the Melaleuca Station and tried to turn it into a buffalo and cattle property but ran into debts and sold it to Paspaley Pearls. A conviction in 1992 for stealing 30 cattle valued at $A7200 ($NZ8922) and assaulting station manager John Harrower tarnished an already dubious reputation. Station managers contacted by AAP said there was no love lost between him and members of the cattle and buffalo industry. Buffalo Industry Council chief executive Ian Baker said Ansell was never a member of the council. ``He was accused of stealing cattle from some of our members,'' he said. He declined to comment further, because Ansell is survived by two sons. A fellow buffalo hunter, who did not want to be named, said Ansell liked his solitude. ``I knew him but we weren't close friends ... he got on really well with the Aborigines,'' he said. Ansell was the guest of the Aboriginal owners on the Urapunga cattle station where he was helping them to attempt to establish a tourism and cattle business. However, within the Northern Land Council, which owned the property in trust, there was concern that Ansell would be back to his old cattle duffing ways and rip off the traditional owners. And some doubted whether he really was the inspiration for Crocodile Dundee. Many say he was the only one who made that assertion, pointing to other Territory characters who had just as much right to the title ``the Real Crocodile Dundee''. There is also a question mark over whether he really was lost for two months on the Fitzmaurice River in 1977 -- the event which earned him the Crocodile Dundee publicity. Ansell co-wrote a book called To Fight the Wild about his experience and a documentary followed. Ken Shadie, who wrote Crocodile Dundee with Paul Hogan and John Cornell, saw a promotional interview with Ansell which inspired their bushman superstar film. But some say he was not lost at all, rather running a cannabis plantation and shooting crocodiles. <<<>>>
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>From: Michael Pollak <mpollak at panix.com>
>To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Subject: Re: Who nOZe?
>Date: Fri, Sep 17, 1999, 5:29 PM
>
>
> On Fri, 17 Sep 1999, Bill Cochrane wrote:
>
>> Probably doesnt mean much but the guy who Mick Dundee was modeled on was
>> killed by the cops in OZ a while back in a shoot out after a spot of armed
>> robbery.
>
> No shit! Do tell more. We Ameris didn't even know he was based on a real
> life model (at least I didn't). (A URL would be fine, or just the guy's
> real name, so I could search it.)
>
> Michael
>
> __________________________________________________________________________
> Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com
>
>