Robert Dickson (14 November 1963 – 11 April 2009) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er in the

VFL/AFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

, a

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, and the winner of the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

of the

reality game show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

Australian Survivor ''Australian Survivor'' is an Australian adventure reality game show based on the international ''Survivor (franchise), Survivor'' format. Following the premise of other versions of the ''Survivor'' format, the show features a group of contesta ...

''.

Early life and education

Dickson was born in Box Hill to Rick and Effie Dickson and was one of six children. He attended St Pauls College, Traralgon, in Victoria, Australia. Dickson learnt to fly a helicopter whilst employed by the National Safety Council of Australia. He also had a hobby of being an amateur film maker. He took a lot of footage at the Hawthorn Football Club whilst he was on their player list.

Football career

Dickson made his VFL debut with the Hawthorn Football Club in 1988 after being recruited from Morwell, Victoria. He was a fringe player for the Hawks who played in the midfield (at 180 cm and 75 kg), and spent a lot of time in the reserves side. He was selected as an emergency for the

1989 VFL Grand Final The 1989 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Geelong Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 30 September 1989. It was the 93rd annual grand final ...

. He went on to play 17 games (kicking 12 goals) for Hawthorn in 3 seasons from 1988–1990. He then moved to the Brisbane Bears where he played for one season, in 1991. He played in the 1991 reserves premiership side for Brisbane (coached by

Rodney Eade Rodney Eade (born 4 April 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach in the Australian Football League. He is a former coach of the Sydney Swans, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Football Club. He has, to date, coached 377 g ...

Media career

Following his football career, Dickson became a

, directing the television documentaries ''The Passion to Play'', ''Shane Crawford Exposed'' and ''The Essence of The Game'', which was commissioned by the AFL to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Australian rules in 2009.

''Australian Survivor''

Dickson was one of the 16 castaways on the

of ''

'', which aired on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

in 2002. He was a member of the Tipara tribe which won all but one tribal immunity challenge, meaning the tribes merged with Tipara having a 7–3 advantage. The Tipara Seven stuck together to vote out the remaining three members of the rival Kadina tribe before having to turn on their own. At the final 6, Dickson formed a new alliance with Sciona Browne and Joel Betts, making a final 3 deal to reach the end of the game. They succeeded, despite Betts facing a tied vote (which he survived due to having less previous votes than another contestant). Dickson secured his place in the Final Two by winning the final immunity challenge and voted out Betts, who had agreed to throw the final challenge so that the pair of allies could make it to the Final Two. Dickson and Browne faced the Final Tribal Council, where he won the A$500,000 grand prize in a 5-2 jury vote. Dickson said at the time that he would use the funds to help his South African mother-in-law emigrate to Australia. In 2020, he was inducted into the inaugural Australian Survivor Hall of Fame.

Death

Dickson and his 5-year-old son Byron died in a car accident whilst on holiday in South Africa on 11 April 2009. Reports at the time said he failed to give way when he performed a u-turn. His oldest son Gabriel, 8, died on 15 April 2009 in the Unitas Hospital due to injuries sustained in the crash. Dickson was the first winner of any ''Survivor'' version to die.

References

External links

*
A Walk to Remember Memorial Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, Rob 1963 births 2009 deaths Road incident deaths in South Africa Australian film directors Survivor (franchise) winners Hawthorn Football Club players Brisbane Bears players Morwell Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Participants in Australian reality television series