OUTBACK HEART

ISBN: 9781863255936

Joanne van Os was just twenty-two when she met Rod Ansell. 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 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 bull catchers and cattle musterers. But as time went on Joanne came to realise that Rod was both a complicated and deeply troubled man. 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 ended in tragedy: 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. OUTBACK HEART captures the Territory life on paper: the dust, the heat, the struggle and the larger-than-life characters. But it's also a deeply moving 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, naïve woman grows up the hard way, and has the most exhilarating and the most heartbreaking times doing it. Joanne Van Os was 19 when she first met the handsome and charismatic Rod Ansell, later known as 'the original Crocodile Dundee'. At 24, Rod was a legend in Australia and overseas. To Joanne, he was a god, a genuine outback hero. Soon they were married with two small sons, and Joanne was living the tough life of an outback 'bullcatcher' and cattle musterer. Ultimately, however, their marriage broke down, and it was then that Rod's life started to go off the rails. His life was tragically cut short in a shoot-out in which two young policemen were also killed. Containing wonderful colour photographs, OUTBACK HEART is a deeply moving and powerful story that will keep you reading till the last page. Joanne captures the outback life but she also tells a deeply personal story of a love affair and a marriage, and the pain when it all falls apart.

Author: VAN OS JOANNE
Publication date: 03/12/2007