The bush is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in many places, such as Australia, New Zealand, Sub-Saharan Africa, Canada, and Alaska.
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Australia
The term has been used over a hundred years and has had a shifting meaning and context. There are the even more remote areas that are named the outback. The term has a complex history - an example is the long term political tensions and rivalries between the urbanised coastal settlements and the more sparsely populated hinterland.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, the term has a more specific connotation — that of isolated, heavily forested countryside, as opposed to the open coastal plains and tussock-covered high country. Bush always refers to areas of native trees rather than exotic forests. 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.
South Africa
In South Africa, the term has specific connotations of rural areas which are not open veld. Generally it refers to areas in the north of the country that would be called savanna. "Going to The Bush" often refers to going to a game park or game reserve. Areas most commonly referred to as The Bush are the Mpumalanga and Limpopo Lowveld, The Limpopo River Valley, northern Kwa-Zulu Natal or any other similar area of wilderness.
Alaska and Canada
The Bush in Alaska is generally described as any community not "on the road system", making it accessible only by more elaborate transportation. Usage is similar in Canada; it is called la brousse, or colloquially le bois, in Canadian French.
Related terms
The term "to go bush" has several similar meanings all connected with the supposed wildness of the bush. It can mean to revert to a feral nature (or to "go native"), and it can also mean to deliberately leave normal surroundings and live rough, with connotations of cutting off communication with the outside world — often as a means of evading capture or questioning by the police. The term bushwhacker is used in Australia to mean someone who spends his or her time in the bush. Another related term used in Australia is "Sydney or the bush", which equates with such terms as "Hollywood or bust" to mean staking total success or failure on one high-risk event.[1] [2] In addition, many Vietnam War Veterans refer to the wilderness, jungle or border areas of the theatre of operations as "the bush", as opposed to towns, cities and military bases. In New Zealand, "The Bush" is a nickname for the Wairarapa Bush provincial rugby team. To bushwhack has two meanings, one is to cut through heavy brush and other vegetation in order to pass through tangled country: "We had to do quite a bit of bushwhacking today to clear the new trail." The other meaning is to hide in such areas and then attack unsuspecting passers-by: "We were bushwacked by the bandits as we passed through their territory and they took all of our money and supplies."
