Ansell was born in
Murgon, Queensland, to George William Ansell and Eva May Ansell, the third of four children. He then moved to the
Northern Territory at the age of 15. As a young man, he made a living hunting
feral water buffalo in the
Top End, the meat being exported to foreign markets.
Survival ordeal In May 1977, shortly after completing a buffalo catching job in
Kununurra, Western Australia, Ansell decided to travel to the
Victoria River on what he claimed was a fishing trip. He was not specific about his plans, only telling his then-girlfriend Lorraine he would be back in a few months. When Ansell's
motorboat was
capsized and sunk by "something big" (he later sensationally claimed it was a whale), no one knew where to find him. Ansell managed to board his
tender, a small
dinghy with only a single
oar, and retrieve his two 8-week-old
bull terriers and a small amount of equipment (a rifle, a knife, some canned food, and bedding). But with no fresh water, Ansell was in a perilous situation, stranded almost from the nearest permanent human settlement, Although he was somewhat
emaciated, Ansell was otherwise healthy. Once back home, he apparently kept his seven-week ordeal to himself, fearing he would upset his mother with his recklessness. He later claimed the experience was hardly a big deal, explaining:All the blokes up in this country, who work with cattle,
ringers, stockmen, bull-catches, whatever, all of them, have really narrow shaves all the time. But they never talk about it...I think the opinion is that if you come through in one piece, and you're still alive, then nothing else really matters. It's like going out to shoot a
kangaroo. You don't come back and say you missed by half-an-inch. You either got him or you didn't. So that is how I looked at it. Until the paper got hold of the story, and that changed a lot of things.
Media attention In 1977, after becoming a sensation in the Australian media following his harrowing ordeal in the
Outback, Ansell met
Joanne van Os, 22, a radio operator originally from
Melbourne who was then working at the remote
Aboriginal community of
Wadeye. The two fell in love and married, having two sons: Callum (born 1979) and Shawn (born 1981). The family spent much of their early years living "under just a
canvas sheet". With no electricity or running water, they cooked by campfire and communicated by radio. In 1979, filmmaker Richard Oxenburgh asked Ansell to relive his adventures in the documentary film
To Fight the Wild, which the following year was published as a book. Although both accepted Ansell's version of events uncritically, his story was frequently treated with skepticism by locals in the
Top End. Some believed it was a publicity stunt and others wondered why Ansell did not follow the river downstream to the nearest town. When Ansell was asked in interviews what he was doing in the remote Australian wilderness by himself, he claimed he was on a fishing trip. Privately, however, he confided to friends that he was actually
poaching crocodiles. In 1981, Ansell was invited to
Sydney where he was interviewed by English journalist
Michael Parkinson for his television program
Parkinson. Ansell attended the interview barefoot. While staying at the famous five-star
Sebel Townhouse Hotel, he slept in his sleeping bag on the floor rather than on his bed, and was reportedly mystified by his room's
bidet. Ansell's interview and curious city antics sparked Paul Hogan's interest, inspiring him and co-writers Ken Shadie and John Cornell to create the character
Mick "Crocodile" Dundee. Following the unexpected blockbuster success of
Crocodile Dundee, Ansell unsuccessfully took Hogan to court. According to Ansell's friends, he was "at one" with
Arnhem Land's Indigenous Australians, and like the film character, he spoke "Urapunga" (
Ngalakgan) fluently, having become a "fully initiated white man". An "unassuming achiever" who embodied "the spirit of the Territory", Ansell was named Territorian of the Year in 1987 for helping to put Top End on the world map. Journalist
Chips Mackinolty, who met Ansell in the 1980s, described him as "articulate and likable, if somewhat intense". However, Ansell's new-found fame alienated him from his peers, and he later lamented of his rejection back home:Proving the point about the story being true or not wouldn't matter that much. Because the people it would affect, who affect me, are the people who live where I work, and know me. And people up here have a phobia about appearing on the media. So that was detrimental to my standing in their eyes...they thought it was a terrible thing to do. == Later life ==