12 April 2009

What should have been a fun-filled and memorable family holiday for Australian film-maker, former footballer and winner of the Australian Survivor series, Robert Dickson, ended in tragedy on Friday night when he and his five-year-old youngest son, Byron, died in a car accident on the road from Sun City.

Dickson's wife, Susan Cuttell, and his other son, Gabriel, 8, were taken to Unitas Hospital in Centurion, Pretoria. She is said to be in a stable condition while Gabriel is in the children's intensive care unit. An ICU nurse said it was difficult to comment on Gabriel's condition, except to say that he was "not as stable" as they would have liked.

The Australian was in South Africa on holiday with his family and was due to join the Australian Football League (AFL) Academy tour of South Africa next week.

'Rob was a personal friend and a great and positive force in life'
"Susan's family is from Zimbabwe and we are all down in South Africa on holiday," said family spokesperson Gavin Rorke, Susan's brother-in-law, from Zimbabwe. "Rob, Susan, the two boys and my son, Glynne, were travelling from Sun City to meet us in Pretoria."

Rorke's son is also at Unitas Hospital in the high care ward.

Rorke said he was not too clear on the details of the accident, as he was given conflicting stories by the police.

He said the Dicksons and Glynne were travelling in a Suzuki car and Rob was driving.

Mandla Mathebula, North West Province Transport spokesperson, said a Jetta crashed into the Suzuki on the Sun City Road.

'He was really just a shining light'

He said while police and emergency services were clearing the scene, an Opel Astra crashed into a police van parked on the road. The two people in the Astra died at the scene. Their names were not available as the next of kin still needed to be informed.

Netcare 911 North West Province spokesperson Mark Stokoe said a paramedic on the scene said the driver's side door of the car in which the Australian family were travelling was smashed in.

The little boy died at the scene and his father died while en route to the hospital.

Dickson, 45, was a former Hawthorn and Brisbane footballer and was well-known for his football documentaries, including the Essence of the Game and Shane Crawford Exposed.

Australian newspapers widely reported on the tragedy, quoting his friends and family.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou described Dickson as a talented and humble man.

"Rob was a personal friend and a great and positive force in life. He was a wonderful film-maker, but above all, he was a wonderful person who brought enormous empathy to what he was doing.

"He was one of those rare people who could capture on film the passion and beauty of the game and to articulate in images exactly what we all love about the game, but struggle to be able to put into words," Demetriou told The Age newspaper in Australia.

Dickson's brother, Don, said the family was shattered by the news of the accident and family members were flying to South Africa. He was quoted on the AFL website.

"Rob was a wonderful brother, a wonderful son and father to his boys. He just achieved so much in his life as a footballer, as a contestant on Australian Survivor and with his film production work - and also as a loving and kind father. He was really just a shining light. From an early age everything he turned his hand to he was sensational at, but above all he was such a wonderful person who we loved so much."

Dickson was the winner of the first Australian Survivor series in 2002. The Herald Sun said that after being crowned the winner, Dickson vowed he would use some of the cash to bring his wife's family to Australia from her native Zimbabwe.

This article by Noelene Barbeau was originally published on page 1 of The Sunday Tribune on April 12, 2009

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