Pubdate: Aug 12, 1999 Source: Guardian Weekly, The (UK) Copyright: 1999 The Guardian Weekly Contact: 75 Farringdon Road London U.K EC1M 3HQ Fax: 44-171-242-0985 Website: http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/GWeekly/ Section: page 4 Author: Helen O'Neill and Catharine Munro OUTBACK HERO WHOSE LIFE BOOMERANGED The last crazed hours of the "real" Crocodile Dundee have destroyed the myth he sent around the world. The infinitely resourceful but sweetly innocent hero of the outback may have been a phoney from the start. Embittered and prone to anger, Rodney Ansell, 44, spent his life failing to live up to the legend. Last week he killed a policeman before being shot himself. Police trying to find a motive for his final 12-hour spree of violence thought drugs might have been a factor. Even among the disparate communities and desperate characters that cling to the red earth of Australia's inhospitable Northern Territory, the barefoot bushman whose story inspired two bestselling movies starring Paul Hogan was considered strange. He was always "pushing, always right on the edge". Blond, blue-eyed, charming and charismatic when he wanted to be, Ansell was a skilled bushman, a loner who preferred the company of the local Aboriginals - "blackfellahs", as they are known around Darwin. He became famous in 1977 after he survived two months marooned in the outback. He was saved by a passing Aboriginal tribe and stayed alive by shooting sharks and buffalo and drinking their blood. His story inspired actor and writer Hogan to write a film. Crocodile Dundee was an instant hit in 1986. Now the rough-and-ready exploits on which it was based are being sullied. Some question what Ansell was doing in the bush when his boat capsized, muttering darkly about crocodile poaching. Ansell's bitterness sprang from a failure to cash in on the success of the movies. His mood worsened when he was forced to sell his ranch in the early 1990s. Why matters came to a head a week ago is still a mystery. All the police know is that, after he left his home on Sunday night, Ansell trekked 400km and started shooting at a house in the tiny outpost of Livingstone. Ansell disappeared into the bush on foot, sparking an intense man hunt and a series of roadblocks. But instead of running he was stalking his hunters. "The police at the road block never saw him coming," Assistant Commissioner John Daulby said. Ansell could have evaded the road block. Instead he chose to kill, and to be killed. The rumour-mill is working overdrive: that it's Hell's Angels country, that Ansell had a hard drugs problem. For those left alive in that hot, barren landscape, all that remains is a mood of shock, confusion and resentment. - --- MAP posted-by: Thunder