Well, having flown in Oz and spent considerable time there 'Out Back', let me tell you that some of those 'hard and dry' fields can hold all sort of nasty surprises.
Now, I wasn't there and have no idea about the amount of local knowledge this pilot had or what that (or any other) field looked like from 2000ft. Frankly, I have no idea what I would have done.
Fact is - he pulled and they all walked away. In my book, a good outcome.