'backblocks' originates from English, specifically as a compound of 'back' + 'block', where 'back' meant 'rear, farther from the centre' and 'block' meant 'a parcel or block of land'.

'backblocks' changed from earlier forms like 'back block' or 'back-block' (used in colonial/Australian English to refer to rear parcels of land) and eventually became the consolidated plural form 'backblocks' in modern usage.

Initially, it referred more literally to 'parcels of land situated at the back (of a settlement)'; over time it broadened to mean 'remote rural districts' in general.