Outback Heart
Joanne Van Os was 19 when she first met the handsome and
charismatic Rod Ansell, later known as 'the original Crocodile Dundee' (Rod was
the idea behind the character ‘Crocodile Dundee’). At twenty-three Rod was
already a legend in Australia and around the world, having survived alone for
two months without supplies in one of the harshest and most remote parts of
northern Australia.
To Joanne, Rod was a god, a genuine hero who could do
anything, could make anything out of nothing, told the funniest yarns, had a
philosophy on everything. She married him, and they had two beautiful sons who
idolised their father. Together they lived the tough life of outback mustering
wild cattle and buffalo and living a 19th century lifestyle in remote parts of
the Northern Territory,
But as time went on Joanne came to realise that Rod was both
a complicated and deeply troubled man. Ultimately, however, their marriage
broke down, and it was then that Rod's life started to go off the rails. For
the sake of her sons she never gave up on Rod, even after their divorce, but
just how far he'd gone only became apparent when his life was tragically cut
short when: out of his mind on drugs, Rod became involved in a shootout in
which a young police office was killed. 'How does someone, whose extraordinary
story of survival in the wild inspired so many Australians, become a psychotic,
drug-crazed gunman?' Joanne asks.
Containing wonderful colour photographs, OUTBACK HEART
captures the Territory outback life on paper: the dust, the heat, the struggle
and the larger-than-life characters that will keep you reading till the last
page. Joanne captures the outback life but she also tells a deeply personal and
powerful story of a love affair and a marriage, and the pain when it all falls
apart. It's the story of Rod Ansell, but even more it is Joanne's story, of how
a young, naive woman grows up the hard way, and has the most exhilarating and
the most heartbreaking times doing it.
Joanne van Os was born in 1955, and grew up in Melbourne. She
moved to the Northern Territory when she was 20 and has never looked back. Her
first book, OUTBACK HEART, is a best-selling memoir about life with her first
husband, the 'Real Crocodile Dundee' Rod Ansell, and his tragic end in 1999.
She followed this book with three children's novels, all set in the far north
of Australia and written for the 10 - 14 age group. A keen photographer and
illustrator she lives with her husband Lex Silvester and daughter on a yacht in
Darwin, NT, and continues to write. Her most recent novel, THE SECRET OF THE
LONELY ISLES, was published in February 2011. She has two adult sons, Callum
and Sean.
This looks very interesting. I never knew that Crocodile Dundee was based on a real person.
ReplyDeleteNeither did I.
ReplyDeleteThere was controversy over Holden using Rod's story and Rod was not allowed to use the Crocodile Dundee name.