The death of Rose Tattoo frontman Gary “Angry” Anderson has taken another larger-than-life figure from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome — a film forever entwined with Coober Pedy’s history.

Australian rock legend and actor Gary “Angry” Anderson has died aged 79.

Rose Tattoo and Anderson’s family announced on Wednesday that he passed away on Monday, 21 September, surrounded by loved ones in Australia.

His death follows a serious cardiac arrest suffered while Rose Tattoo was touring Europe in August. The remaining dates of the band’s European farewell tour were cancelled and Anderson remained in hospital receiving treatment.

To most Australians, Angry Anderson will be remembered as the unmistakable gravel-voiced frontman of Rose Tattoo — the hard-rock band behind songs including Bad Boy for Love, Rock ’n’ Roll Outlaw, Nice Boys and We Can’t Be Beaten.

To Coober Pedy, however, he will also always be Ironbar Bassey.

Anderson played the tenacious and almost indestructible head of security for Bartertown in George Miller and George Ogilvie’s 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Working for Aunty Entity, played by Tina Turner, Ironbar pursued Max and the escaping children through the film’s spectacular final chase. No matter how many crashes, falls or apparent disasters were thrown at him, Ironbar kept coming back — often with a furious expression that Anderson seemed born to deliver.

It was a performance that combined menace, physical comedy and Anderson’s already formidable public image. He may not have been the film’s leading man, but Ironbar became one of its most memorable characters.

For Coober Pedy, that role carries particular significance.

Much of the film’s exterior action was shot in and around the town, with the Moon Plains and Breakaways helping create the vast, hostile wasteland seen on screen. The climactic chase involving the makeshift train and an assortment of post-apocalyptic vehicles was filmed across the country surrounding Coober Pedy.

One of those vehicles was the enormous machine known as “Bigfoot” or the Andamooka Buggy, driven on screen by Anderson’s Ironbar Bassey.

The film crew’s arrival brought international stars, machinery, stunt work and large-scale production into the district. It also helped establish Coober Pedy’s reputation as one of the world’s most convincing natural film sets — a place capable of becoming another planet, a post-nuclear wasteland or almost anywhere beyond the ordinary world.

That reputation has continued through productions including Pitch Black, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Red Planet, Mortal Kombat and Limbo.

But for many, Beyond Thunderdome remains the film most closely connected to the town.

Anderson’s death comes just over three years after the loss of Tina Turner, who died in May 2023 aged 83.

Turner’s commanding performance as Aunty Entity helped propel the Australian production onto the international stage. She also recorded two songs for the film, including the global hit We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome).

Now both Aunty Entity and her relentless enforcer Ironbar Bassey are gone.

They are not the first members of the film’s cast to pass away, but the loss of two of its most recognisable musical stars is a sobering reminder that the people who created this important chapter of Australian — and Coober Pedy — film history are growing older.

Beyond the wasteland, Anderson’s career stretched across more than five decades.

He had fronted Rose Tattoo since 1976, helping make the band one of Australia’s most influential hard-rock exports. Rose Tattoo’s uncompromising sound later influenced international bands including Guns N’ Roses, and the Tatts were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006.

Anderson also found enormous solo success with the ballad Suddenly, famously used during the wedding of Scott and Charlene on Neighbours. The song revealed a softer side to a performer better known for his shaved head, tattoos and ferocious stage presence.

Away from music and acting, Anderson was a prominent advocate for young people and numerous charitable causes. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1993 for his service to the community, particularly as a youth advocate.

His public opinions were sometimes controversial and rarely delivered quietly, but Angry Anderson remained unmistakably himself — direct, passionate and impossible to ignore.

For Coober Pedy, his legacy is captured in dust, steel and film.

Every time the final chase of Beyond Thunderdome rolls across the Moon Plains, Ironbar Bassey is back behind the wheel, roaring through our landscape and refusing to be beaten.

Angry Anderson has left the Thunderdome — but his place in Coober Pedy’s film history will remain.