Backbencher

Lecture Four was titled Settlement: Convicts & Pilgrims and focused on the European settlement of Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Isern explained the history of settlement in Australia and New Zealand in the terms of Mythistory. Mythistory is used to describe the founding myths of both countries. For example, in Australia the colonies were originally made up of wealthy landowners and convicts for labor. This has evolved into a situation where today Australians take pride in being able to find a convict in their family tree. These early settlers were greeted by a harsh landscape where their struggle to create an agricultural society almost starved them all. This initial failure opened the doors to other economic opportunities such as ranching and the colonies eventually transitioned to wanting respectability instead of cheap labor and transportation was stopped, but these origins have not been forgotten by new generations. In New Zealand the myth of a planned settlement where wealthy landowners purchased land at a fair price was again overrun by the success of Ranching but Kiwi's still believe that their origins have created a nation where planned settlement created a civil and utopian society.

This lecture was interesting because it made me think about how much the origins of a country affect that country's history. In the United States our origins or religious freedoms and a country the rest of the world could look to as the perfect society has permeated our culture and to this very day we are convinced all other nations should be just like us. In Australia and New Zealand the origins of both nations have changed the way the people look at themselves and their countries. This dynamic made these two nations into what they are today and explains the inherent differences between them and the differences with other nations that were colonized by the British. I like to this of this as a good thing because otherwise every nation that was colonized by the British might be just like Canada.