Australia A man who lives in or has extensive experience of the Australian bush or outback.
Near-synonym: bushcrafter
An occasional Afghan makes a good bushman. These rare birds, with the help of natives, found that by winding in and out over the soft ground of the valleys they could bring a camel-train where no wheeled transport could go.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 86:
3 more examples
To A. B. Paterson, son of a dispossessed squatter, writing from a city office, the bushmen with their horses and simple skills were the backbone of Australia.1970, Douglas Pike, Australia: The Quiet Continent, page 230:
Its^([the Bulletin's]) writers shaped ‘a group myth about Australians and their destiny’; in the absence of conventional heroes, visiting the past to claim the bushman as the first ‘Australian’, the anti-hero in the struggles against empire.2000, Donald Denoon, Philippa Mein Smith, Marivic Wyndham, A History of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific, page 214:
Later, historian Russel Ward (1958) famously identified the outback bushman as the “typical” Australian – a rugged individualist, courageous and loyal to his mates.2010, Susan Lawrence, Peter Davies, An Archaeology of Australia Since 1788, page 117: