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The Wasteland is a vast arid area in the Australian wilderness. Once known as The Outback, it was present long before the collapse of Western civilisation and prevails thereafter, as unforgiving and relentless as ever. The location features in all four films in the series, as well as the two video games.

Terrain[]

Max and the gyro captain survey the wastes

Max and the Gyro Captain survey the wastes.

Mad Max 1-2[]

The Wasteland depicted in the first 2 Mad Max movies appears to be relatively untouched by ecological disaster. Given that these films take place prior to any nuclear exchange, it is plausible that the area seen is simply the Australian outback as we see it in our own world.

It consists of dry scrublands with little vegetation and hazardous deserts. Closer to the centres of old civilization, roads are still prevalent, if not well-worn and dusty. One example being Highway 9, sector 26 located on the edges between the true outback and the civilized life of the Australian bush.

Mad Max 3-4[]

After an unseen nuclear exchange, the Wasteland as seen in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and Mad Max: Fury Road has been vastly transformed.

Much of the dusty rock of the Outback has been replaced with endless sand dunes, with almost no pre-Fall roads present. Radiation has poisoned much of the population, turning the once beautiful Green Place into a caustic swamp.

Most noticeably, this reborn Wasteland is home to devastating storms. These massive monstrosities of wind, sand, and lightning are likely a byproduct of both climate change and nuclear devastation, and pose one of the biggest threats to the Wasteland's inhabitants.

Inhabitants[]

Once remote and empty, the area has seen increased interest following the event known to some as the "pox-eclipse" and has become far more populated.

Initially (as seen in the events of Mad Max) it attracted vast numbers of biker gangs, many of whom saw the lawlessness of this new frontier appealing; its simple inhabitants amiable, gullible and expendable - and their possessions easy to loot.

As time went on (Mad Max 2), and as more people fled the cities, tribes sprung up; some factions were benevolent and others less so, with gangs evolving into vicious marauders. The war between the tribe of the Oil Refinery led by Papagallo against the Lord Humungus's marauders played a pivotal role in the politics of that region of the wasteland. Exploiting the natural resources and being in possession of these valuable commodities dominated the share of power in the desolate land.

The outback the desert

The expanse of the desert

As time drew on, nomads, gangs and tribes settled in their new home and towns with starkly differing ideals to those that came before them were birthed from the sand. One known example (shown in Beyond Thunderdome) was Bartertown, a market town that prevailed through the harsh environment, being powered ingeniously by the methane of pigs.


Tyrannical warlords also rose to prominence. For example, Immortan Joe, the self-fashioned god-king of the Citadel.

Trivia[]

  • The first three films use the Australian outback as filming location for its fictional representation in the series. For the fourth film, Fury Road, due to rare, high levels of rain in the Australian shoot location, flowers began to bloom. According to George Miller this detracted from the post-apocalyptic feeling that he had in mind. Therefore the shooting location was moved to the desert terrain of the Namib desert in Namibia, Africa.[1]
  • The area is first referred to as The Wasteland in the second film's script.
  • Outback is an Australian slang to refer to a remote and sparsely inhabited area.

References[]

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