Lawson claimed the bush had been overly romanticised, and lyrical descriptions of "sunny plains" and "shining rivers" were little more than code for "barren wastes", "thirsty gutters" and "strings of muddy waterholes".

Banjo was quick to respond with a paean of praise to the beauty of the bush, and to the ability of the landscape and the people to adapt and to regenerate.

That, it turns out according to ACM's Heartbeat of Australia study conducted in partnership with the University of Canberra and released this week, is as true today as it was when Paterson penned his rebuttal.

When we asked 6367 Australians from the capital cities and the regions to rate their lives on issues such as feeling safe, their standard of living, personal relationships, community involvement and their financial security the results were astounding.

Regional Australians rated the quality of their lives more highly on each of these issues by at least 10 per cent.

The biggest differences were in terms of feeling safe (47 per cent compared to 27 per cent), personal relationships (39 per cent compared to 25 per cent), and standard of living (37 per cent compared to 20 per cent). This latter figure reflects that while incomes are generally lower in country areas the cost of living, particularly for housing, is much less.

These more positive life outcomes were consistently reflected in how regional residents felt about life with 74 per cent describing themselves as happy compared to 65 per cent of capital city dwellers.

Capital city residents were more likely be stressed (56 per cent to 47 per cent), anxious (54 per cent compared to 44 per cent), lonely (34 per cent compared to 26 per cent) and angry (28 per cent compared to 23 per cent).

The survey also confirmed a strong correlation between feeling involved in your community and knowing what was going on.

This, according to Professor Sora Park of the UOC, highlighted the work of regional publishers such as ACM in keeping communities informed and individuals engaged.