22 June

Australians are increasingly drawn to the outback. The idea actually makes no sense at all, what does ‘outback’ mean? What I think it means, and why I think Australians feel increasngly drawn to it, is everything we never understood about this country, pushed into the interior as we settled all the coastlines. That includes people, the outback is the only place in Australia we’re happy to leave to Aboriginal Australians. But we don’t get any closer to that mystery, because we tour the outback as tourists. Our ‘big laps’, like just moving through it will bring us closer to it. ‘I’ve been everywhere man’, remember that song? Like if we just keep accumulating more towns and sights, we’ll get to the heart of Australia. It won’t work.