For me, "Sydney or the Bush" is the same as the old song title "How They Gonna Keep Them Down On The Farm (After They've Seen Paree?)" i.e. Paris. There are masses of young people living in rural areas who are busting to get into the bright lights, big city world of Sydney and other capital cities. I don't know if this fits the novel, but if the character moved to Sydney from a rural area then maybe that's what the saying is about. If the character is desperate to make it in the city because the alternative is to go back to a mind-numbingly boring life in the bush, with presumably, in her opinion, people who think in an extremely narrow sphere of reference, then that might explain why everything she does is "Sydney or the Bush".

The "Sydney or bust" idea is similar.

Helen