The bush

"The bush" is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in certain countries.

The concept of "the bush" has become iconic in Australia. In reference to the landscape, "bush" refers to any sparsely-inhabited region, regardless of vegetation. "The bush" in this sense was something that was uniquely Australian and very different from the green European landscapes familiar to many new immigrants. The term "Outback" is also used, but usually in association with the more arid inland areas of Australia. "The Bush" also refers to any populated region outside of the major metropolitan areas, including mining and agricultural areas. Consequently, it is not unusual to have a mining town in the desert such as Port Hedland (Pop. 14,000) referred to as "the bush" within the media.

Bush poets such as Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson revered the bush as a source of national ideals, as did contemporaneous painters in the Heidelberg School like Tom Roberts (1856-1931), Arthur Streeton (1867-1943) and Frederick McCubbin (1855-1917). Romanticising the bush in this way was a big step forward for Australians in their steps towards self-identity. The legacy is a folklore rich in the spirit of the bush.

Australians affix the term "bush" to any number of other entities or activities to describe their rural, country or folk nature, e.g. "Bush Cricket", "Bush Music", "Bush Doof", etc.

In New Zealand, Bush primarily refers to areas of native trees rather than exotic forests, however the word is also used in the Australian sense of anywhere outside urban areas, encompassing grasslands as well as forests.

The New Zealand usage of "bush" probably comes from the word "bosch", used by Dutch settlers in South Africa, where it meant uncultivated country.

Areas with this type of land cover are found predominantly in the South Island, especially in the West Coast region stretching from Fiordland to Nelson, with the east coast having been deforested except for parts of Kaikoura and the Catlins. Much of Stewart Island/Rakiura is bush-covered. In the North Island, the largest areas of bush cover the main ranges stretching north-northeast from Wellington towards East Cape, notably including the Urewera Ranges, and the catchment of the Whanganui River. Significant stands remain in Northland and the ranges running south from the Coromandel Peninsula towards Ruapehu, and isolated remnants cap various volcanoes in Taranaki, the Waikato, the Bay of Plenty and the Hauraki Gulf.

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