Myths of Cultures

1.I think every culture creates some sort of myth or story so that they can have history and stories from when they were living to pass down to the next generation. Stories of ancestors and ancient people are always entertaining and people also want to have evidence that they were alive during this time period. This reveals that humans are always pushing to explain everything that they have accomplished and always looking for some kind of information and are wiling to pass it down. Humans attempt to explain there origins because they know that people out there are always looking for the truth and always want to know where they come from. These myths still exist everywhere today in the world, in the form of people simply telling others about there lives and things they can pass on.
2. The two stories differ as one is clearly lighter than the other. The Australian Aborigine was focused on the sun and mother nature, and were most likely focused around nature. Opposite to that, the Maori were based on darkness in the tone of death, and they focused more on the word of others. They both value gods and offspring as it stated in both stories, but are clearly different based on what I stated earlier. Australian Aborigine are light, Maori are dark.
3. These civilizations are similar in the fact that they both worship gods. They also both are for offspring and separation of parents. They believe that humans are superior and highly believe in large families. However, the Aborigine are focused around the sun and animals, also known as mother nature. They believe that the gods abandoned them and also the parents separate by choice. For the Maori, there civilization is darker in the tone of death, and the humans try to split gods. They are much darker compared to the Aborigine.
4. The main message that these stories are trying to send is simply that we must respect mother nature, as one today would say, "go green". The aborigine think that we should focus on the earth and mother nature as a whole to keep it going, as do the Maori. That is the main message the stories are creating and the most important one.
5. Although I may not be the most religious person out there, and I may not go to church every sunday, my "creation" story still derives from what I have learned from my religion. After going through religious education classes I received a perspective from the church on how we were created and it has simply stuck with me throughout my life. No one can do anything to alter that opinion, even if it is proven scientifically through evolution, because it is what I have grown up believing.

Native Maori people of New Zealand

One of the main things the Aborigine were focused on, the sun

Timelines

         The fact that Australia was declared a colony is similar to the United States, because were are also a colony of Britain in the 1770's. British did have control of the American Colonies, but were slowly losing them, while Australia on the other hand was becoming part of the British Colonies (Wikipedia). New Zealand and Australia also are similar, due to the fact they both had gold rushes but came at different times. The Victorian Gold Rush in Australia came in the 1850's and had made an impact on the economy without a doubt. Edward Hargraves was the first one to discover gold in this area of Australia. In New Zealand on the other hand, Gold was discover in 1861 on May 25th by Gabriel Read in the town of Lawrence Tuapeka (www.lawrence.co.nz).
          In 1901, the commonwealth of Australia was created when all the colonies joined together to become one nation. They created a democracy and were under the rule of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain (www.eoas.com). The United States also have a democracy which shows that the governing of Australia is similar to that of ours. Switching over to New Zealand's government, they are also similar to Australia and the United States because they have a self-governing form of government that was established in 1907. Prior to this government being established, there were many wars taking place between the Maori (the natives of NZ) and the European settlers. Many Europeans were looking to discover New Zealand due to recent voyages, and the Maori were not in favor of this. Following this, they created a self-governing dominion.
          In 1962, the native Aborigines of Australia were given the right to vote. In the U.S., people are allowed to vote as well, which shows a clear similarity, that everyone can vote, besides women. These two countries differ from New Zealand because they were the first country to give the vote to women in 1893. Referring back to the Natives of Australia, there was an act passed in 1976 giving Aborigines the ability to claim their native land. This is similar to the United States, giving Native American's reserves. Eventually for both Australia and New Zealand, the natives are finally content. In 2008, the Australian Parliament apologized for any past actions that were wrong committed against the Aborigines. As for New Zealand, it was a struggle but they finally achieved independence through many revolutions and through much time. Independence day is officially celebrated on the 6th of February for New Zealand and is a very special holiday for many citizens (www.123independenceday.com).

The Independent country of New Zealand

The native Aborigine people of Australia