Backbencher

Yippy skippy,

The first lecture of this semester was a general overview that focused on the two native peoples in both Australia (Aborigines) and New Zealand (Maori). With a steady pace, it pointed more the differences than any similarities the two cultures might share. For example, the Aborigines had lived and settled in Australia for a much longer time before the Maori even settled in New Zealand. More to the point, the Aborigines believe that Australia is where they have always lived while the Maori believed they had sailed to New Zealand from their ancient homeland.

Enters the white man,

The British “discovered” and henceforth settled in these new found lands. However, what was strikingly interesting was the development of the two native cultures in response to these developments. It is true that many died because of the so called “fatal contact” but somehow their cultures survived. Most interesting was how the Maori managed to fend off the enemy by a prolonged underground warfare. With the Aborigines, it was clever killing off of livestock to try and impede European growth. In the end, they were never really treated as equals (until a long time afterwards).

Perhaps I slept through too much of the lecture, but I was curious as to how the Maori managed to acquire guns and where they developed the idea of building tunnels to escape from their besieged base camps. Is this because of their materialistic views?