According to Ansell's friends, he was "at one" with Arnhem Land's Indigenous Australians, and like the film character, he spoke Urapunga 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.