"We spent the weekend out in the bush."
Where "The bush" Comes From
"Bush" traces back to the Dutch word "bos," meaning woodland, which entered early Australian colonial English to describe the native forest and scrubland surrounding the first settlements.
Over time its meaning broadened from literal woodland to any rural or undeveloped area outside the cities — a softer, less extreme version of "the outback," used for everything from a country property to a patch of bushland on a city's fringe.
How Aussies Actually Use It
"The bush" covers a huge range of rural and semi-rural Australia — properties, small towns, and native bushland alike — and is generally considered less remote than "the outback."
It carries a strong sense of national identity, tied to "bush poetry," "bushfires," and the broader romantic image of rural Australian life found in the work of writers like Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson.
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