Meaning: A lonely forsaken place.
Background:
The inland desert region of Australia that is otherwise known as the
Never-never is also sometimes called the `Back of Beyond'.
The term is more generally used to refer to any real or imagined remote
region. It was first put into print by Sir Walter Scott in his novel The
Antiquary, 1816:
"You... whirled them to the back of beyond to look at the auld Roman camp."
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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I watched many times "One Man's Wilderness," a video of Dick Proenneke in
Alaska. The 51-year-old set out to the back of beyond, to "test myself" as he
said. He felled some trees, built himself a log cabin next to the Twin Lakes, and
lived off the fat of the land (and water) until 82, when he finally got enough
of the winters up there and came back to California.
One might call the place lonely and forsaken. The vid showed anything but.
