The things you read about first in English newspapers -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/nov/12/australia-outback-desert-simpson
The interesting thing with this article is the reference to Lawson's
poem Out Back. I suspect old Henry played a role in inserting the
term outback into the national psyche. The third last verse of the
poem sums up the fate of a swagman who makes a fatal mistake (and
summarises the rationale for the park closure).
It chanced one day, when the north wind blew in his face like a
furnace-breath,
He left the track for a tank he knew – 'twas a short-cut to his death;
For the bed of the tank was hard and dry, and crossed with many a crack,
And, oh! it's a terrible thing to die of thirst in the scrub Out Back.
(see http://members.ozemail.com.au/~natinfo/lawson/outback.htm for the
entire poem, and http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/pubs/ozwords/pdfs/beissel.pdf
for a discussion of the original usage of the phrase outback).
Regards, Laurie
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