ok, on a roll... aborigines versus maoris

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this could be a potentially controversial one as clearly i'm basing my opinions on just a few relatively uniformed observations, BUT one of the striking differences between Oz and Nz has been the prominence of the indigenous peoples and their respective cultures and the integration with the once european/british folk.

both share a similar recent history i.e. parallels with capt james cook's adventures (mid to late 1700's)
and subsequent colonisation, yet although they share some historic and current events, issues, political agendas, it feels that they are poles apart in terms of how integrated the different societies and just how happy the native peoples are. here in nz (especially the north island), maori influence is everywhere and seems as much of what modern nz is as that of what the pakeha (non maoris) have brought - everything ranging from the importance of the haka, to virtually every place names, to having their own TV channel, to 'celebrities' in all aspects of life/work, etc etc. in oz, looking back, the aborigines really are the forgotten people as they are often described.

a major difference and reason (from the little what we've seen and read), is that for the aborigines their sense of place based upon spiritual links to areas of land specific to small groups, was/is so strong and the fact that so many were proactively displaced really hit(s) them hard. (read the Rabbit Proof Fence a couple of weeks ago, amazing insight into the destruction of the 're-education and placement policy' plus fantastic story of three young girls travelling in the outback)... on the other hand, cook and co found the maoris keen to welcome new skills, tools, etc (e.g. they weren't even using iron at that point). obviously issues and rationales are much more complicated, but its my intro into top five points of interest about aborigines, maoris and colonisation: (not a top five I'd ever thought I'd be compiling!)

1. aborigines arrived in oz around 60,000 years ago (trying to recall and i think the maoris made it over from polynesia to nz only about 2,000 years ago, certainly very recently by comparison). they came by sea - as there are no ape like creatures native to oz they could have descended from - which means that they had boats and were fishing about 30,000 years before archaeological records show any other peoples on earth doing so. impressive! (this was also only recognised about 30 years ago). aborigines are therefore now recognised as the longest surviving/ continuous maintained culture - but not sure how many people know this, or more importantly, what respect it's given them...

2. both aborigines and maoris have a much much shorter life expectancy than ex-colonial oz/nz'ers. aborigines' life expectancy is twenty years less. because of the distance that cook and co had to travel, there was a natural time based quarantine where those with diseases tended to die on voyage (unlike US, where small pox wiped out as many native americans as us and the french did!) but still we brought over a lot of nasty. just strikes me as an interesting stat in a modern developed society, not sure how much is being done today to proactively understand how life expectancy might be improved... lots i'm sure, one to look at on the internet perhaps!

3. apart from the maoris hunting the big maos to extinction (big flightless bird about twice the size of an ostrich) and a few other easy prey when they arrived, the european colonials have caused the extinction of an astonishing array of animals/plants... what's also interesting is that amount of damage done by the thoughtless introduction of new non native species - for one, the blackberry bush runs riot causing all sorts of problems in a large uncultivated landscape as it's a bitch to get rid off. one of my favourites was finding out the 300 million plus rabbit population problem in oz that has irrevocably changed their landscape (and whom are now all immune to myxomatosis) was caused to by a bloke called Thomas Austin bringing over 24 bunnies in 1859 so that he could have something to shoot at of the back of his veranda! (fact in Bill Bryson's Down Under - personally found it a dull read, too many similar descriptions small towns, sorry Bill, good rabbit fact though)

4. aboriginal 'philosophy' or way of life was/is to be migratory gardeners of their patch of land so that they lived a totally sustainable existence within their physical environment (maybe we should put them in charge of tackling global climate change)... the aboriginal dot paintings are secret maps and stories about their land, that are passed down between generations (as are dances and particular specialist skills such as a type of carving between maoris)

5. according to the ozzies, aboriginals are missing the gene that helps you cope with alcohol - bit like the native americans and at times, me! from what we've seen though, the maoris can really put it away!

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