Aussie mania swept the globe in the late 80s after a little film called Crocodile Dundee showed the world the magic of Australia’s last frontier. Audiences were charmed by the rugged bushman Mick Dundee, and laughed as the outback larrikin tried to make his way around NYC.

The film was inspired by a real person, Rod Ansell, who had spent 56 days surviving alone in the Outback after his fishing boat was capsized by a crocodile. Rod never saw any money from the film, and his life eventually spiraled into meth-fuelled paranoia and delusion that culminated in him murdering a police officer and dying in a shootout with police.

EPISODE NOTES:

Rod had an uncomplicated but tough life working as a cattle hunter in the NT. He loved the bush, the outdoors, and the freedom his lifestyle oriented. He didn’t make a big thing out of his 56-day ordeal, as that was just how it was in the Outback. Initially, he found it funny that Paul Hogan was inspired to make a film about him, and didn’t mind so much that he wasn’t given anything in return.

But bad luck wouldn’t stop following Rod. He lost his home, his income, and his wife after a series of misfortune. He fell into drug use, using massive amounts of meth. He and his new girlfriend Cherie ended up in a folie a deux, where they believed that they were being persecuted by Freemasons. He set out one night to ‘rescue’ his sons who he believed had been kidnapped by Freemasons. As he searched for his sons, he fell deeper and deeper into the delusion, until he eventually snapped, shooting and killing Sergeant Glen Huitson at a police roadblock, before being shot himself.

You can read the (very well written) inquest document here https://justice.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/206703/glen-huitson-rodney-ansell.pdf

Read an interview with Rod just after Crocodile Dundee came out here https://people.com/archive/meet-rod-ansell-a-daring-real-life-dundee-vol-29-no-23/

Find out more about the case here https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/the-day-the-real-crocodile-dundee-rod-ansell-was-shot-dead/news-story/b282e2a78ef1a2091db3d739b7b819f8

You can read more about the victim, Glen Huitson, here https://www.australianpolice.com.au/glen-anthony-huitson/

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