Backbencher

Lecture one consisted of the general origins of Australia and New Zealand as well as their peoples. From the ancient migration of the aborigines to the more recent arrival of the Maori, we discussed the impact that these inhabitants had on their new environment as well as the way the environment impacted them. The lecture then switched to the coming of Europeans. There was then the matter of how the native cultures would interact with that of the new arrivals. The lecture showed who the synthetic culture fared better in contact with the Europeans than did the static culture of the aborigines; however there were still clashes between them. With that, the lecture looked at Australian and New Zealand race relations. This was shown with examples such as the attempted extermination of the aborigines through killing or abduction of children and the opposite end of the spectrum in New Zealand with the eventual signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The lecture ended with a look at modern day race relations and how they might not be as mellifluous as previously thought.
I was interested in the impact of the early people on their environment. It has always seemed that the belief that native people were in harmony with their environment has been common knowledge. It is interesting to find out that some of these cultures may have hunted the megafauna in their lands, such as the moa, to extinction. It was also interesting to start the lecture with music from aboriginal artists and how one wouldn’t really be able to discern what is necessarily native music.