Dead Heart: Australia’s Desert Centre
Australia has a heart. It is also, rather oddly, called dead. “The Dead Heart” is an old expression for the arid interior of Australia. The phrase became particularly influential after geologist John Walter Gregory used it as the title of his 1906 book The Dead Heart of Australia, following his expedition around Lake Eyre. The name reflects an older way of imagining Australia’s inland deserts as dry, empty and lifeless. Modern knowledge tells a much richer story: central Australia supports a remarkable range of plants, animals and human cultures. Even so, “the Dead Heart” remains part of Australian English and Australia’s historical vocabulary. Meaning 「Dead Heart」は、オーストラリア中央部の乾燥した内陸地域、特に砂漠地帯を指す古くからの表現です。この表現を広めた重要な人物が地質学者John Walter Gregoryで、1906年にThe Dead Heart…