Early Life
Rodney William Ansell was born in Murgon, Queensland to George William Ansell and Eva May Ansell, the third of four children. Ansell 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. 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 canvass sheet." With no electricity or running water, they cooked by campfire and communicated by radio. In 1985, Ansell borrowed money and secured a pastoral lease in northern Arnhem Land. He started up Melaleuca, a cattle station 140 kilometres (87 mi) east of Darwin, near Kakadu National Park. Named after the Melaleuca paper bark trees which dot the landscape, the Ansells built their homestead on the station, not far from the Mary River.
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