or Never, Never Land
See quotations. Mr. Cooper's explanation (1857 quotation) isnot generally accepted.
1857. F. de Brebant Cooper, `Wild Adventures in Australia,'p. 68:
«With the aid of three stock-keepers, soon after my arrival atIllarrawarra, I had the cattle mustered, and the draft destinedfor the Nievah vahs ready for for the road.»
[Footnote]: «Nievah vahs, sometimes incorrectly pronouncednever nevers, a Comderoi term signifying unoccupied land.»
1884. A. W. Stirling, `The Never Never Land: a Ride inNorth Queensland,' p. 5:
«The `Never Never Land,' as the colonists call all that portionof it [Queensland] which lies north or west of Cape Capricorn.»
1887. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. i. p. 279:
«In very sparsely populated country, such as the district ofQueensland, known as the Never Never Country – – presumablybecause a person, who has once been there, invariablyasseverates that he will never, never, on any consideration,go back.»
1890. J. S. O'Halloran, Secretary Royal Colonial Institute, apud Barrere and Leland:
«The Never, Never Country means in Queensland the occupiedpastoral country which is furthest removed from the moresettled districts.»
1890. A. J. Vogan, `The Black Police,' p. 85:
«The weird `Never, Never Land,' so called by the earliestpioneers from the small chance they anticipated, on reachingit, of ever being able to return to southern civilization.»