ush,' says the deputation of the unemployed."

1861. T. McCombie,' Australian Sketches,' p. 123:

"At first the eternal silence of the bush is oppressive, but a
short sojourn is sufficient to accustom a neophyte to the new
scene, and he speedily becomes enamoured of it."

1865. J. F. Mortlock, `Experiences of a Convict,' p. 83:

"The `bush,' a generic term synonymous with `forest' or
`jungle,' applied to all land in its primaeval condition,
whether occupied by herds or not."

1872. A. McFarland, `Illawarra and Manaro,' p. 113:

"All the advantages of civilized life have been surrendered
for the bush, its blanket and gunyah."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,'
vol. i. p. 250:

"The technical meaning of the word `bush.' The bush is the
gum-tree forest, with which so great a part of Australia is
covered, that folk who follow a country life are invariably
said to live in the bush. Squatters who look after their own
runs always live in the bush, even though their sheep are
pastured on plains. Instead of a town mouse and a country
mouse in Australia, there would be a town mouse and a bush
mouse; but mice living in the small country towns would still
be bush mice."

Ibid. c. xx. p. 299:

"Nearly every place beyond the influence of the big towns is
called `bush,' even though there should not be a tree to be
seen around."

1883. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. i. p. 67, n.:

"Bush was a general term for the interior. It might be thick
bush, open bush, bush forest, or scrubby bushterms which
explain themselves."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 40:

"The first thing that strikes me is the lifeless solitude of
the bush. . . . There is a deep fascination about the freedom
of the bush."

1890. E. W. Hornung [Title]:

"A Bride from the Bush."

1896. `Otago Daily Times,' Jan. 27, p. 2, col. 5:

"Almost the whole of New South Wales is covered with bush.
It is not the bush as known in New Zealand. It is rather
a park-like expanse, where the trees stand widely apart,
and where there is grass on the soil between them."

<hw>Bush</hw>, <i>adj</i>. or <i>in composition</i>, not always
easy to distinguish, the hyphen depending on the fancy of the
writer.

1836. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 75:

"The round trundling of our cart wheels, it is well known, does
not always improve the labours of Macadam, much less a bush
road."

1848. Letter by Mrs. Perr