Backbencher

Lecture six examined the social and cultural histories of Australia and New Zealand. Covered in the lecture was discussion of founding mythologies and their influence on how the cultures evolved since colonization. The thesis presented was: how the citizens feel about themselves will determine how they act in a society.

William Oliver's ("Story of New Zealand" ) believed that whatever would become of New Zealand would be a variant of British experience, but the case seems to be that they have succeeded in coming up with their new ideas such as the Welfare State. What is unarguable to New Zealand's founding mytholgies is that it was a planned, classless society and not Australian.

Australia's founding mythology lies in the fact that it was settled as a convict colony resulting in a sort of underdog self image. Because of the various groups that settled the country Australia was early- on a land of class conflicts. "The Australian Legend" by Russell Ward hypothesizes that Australia's national identity was born among the bush workers of the Pastoral industry and that Australians have become aware and embrace this identity as a symbol of nationalism. He uses literature, bush ballads and poetry as evidence for his ideas.

Miriam Dixon's "The Real Mathilda" written in 1976 questions those previous ideas of Australian identity. She criticized Ward's and other author's works and for that matter Australia's history to be misogynic. She uses the Irish male immigrant as an example to propose that just as he was a victim of British oppression that he countered it and treated his women in that same way and that denial of just treatment has had a profound impact on Australian women's self concept.

We learned a good deal about rugby and cricket and how the countrys' national identitys play into their style of play. The All Blacks team of New Zealand are fiercly competitive and successful and New Zealanders seem to regard their rugby as "English, only better." The Australians play of rubgy is fast-paced and more violent.

I appreciated learning about the two societies from a grass-roots approach and believe it will in the future help me to understand the people better. I wonder if the momentum created early in their history will continue especially with increased awareness or will global influences overshadow how they develop culturally.