Dimensions
154 x 233 x 23mm
A powerful and deeply moving memoir by the ex-wife of the 'original' Crocodile Dundee, Rod Ansell, in the tradition of the bestselling 'In The Middle Of Nowhere'.
Joanne Van Os was a 19 year old girl from suburban Melbourne when she first met the handsome and charismatic Rod Ansell, later known as 'the original Crocodile Dundee'. At 24, Rod was already a legend in the Territory, having survived for two months without any supplies in hostile country miles from anywhere. His story made international headlines at the time, and he went on to star in a film re-enactment, which was released with a book called 'To Fight The Wild'. The publicity resulted in Rod being interviewed by Michael Parkinson, not once, but twice.
To Joanne, Rod was a god, a genuine outback hero who could do anything, make anything out of nothing, told the funniest yarns, had a philosophy on everything. Soon they were married, and Joanne was living the tough life of an outback 'bullcatcher' and cattle musterer. Joanne's life with Rod was never going to be easy. They had no land to start with, let alone a house. Eventually they did manage to get a loan to buy a station, and for a while life was good. They had two beautiful sons, Callum and Shaun, who idolised their father. But as time went on Joanne came to realise that Rod was both a complicated and deeply troubled man. In the end their marriage broke down and, up to their ears in financial problems, the bank foreclosed and sold the station from under them. It was then that Rod started to go off the rails. For the sake of her sons Joanne never gave up on him, but just how far Rod had gone only became apparent when his life finally ended in tragedy.
'How does someone go from being a national icon to a psychotic, drug-crazed gunman who shot four people, killing one of them before being killed himself? 'Outback Heart' is a deeply moving and powerful story that will keep you reading till the last page, and accompanied by some wonderful colour photographs. Joanne captures the outback life on paper, with the dust, the heat, the hard work and the larger-than-life characters. But she also tells a deeply personal 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, and how a young naive woman grows up the hard way, and has the most exhilarating and the most heartbreaking times doing it.
