As you may recall, in 1769, Captain James Cook made one of three expeditions to the islands of New Zealand. Other explorers, upon reading Captain Cook’s journals, thought that exploring these fine islands might not be a bad idea, so they followed suit. The following year, Britain thought Australia was up for the taking, so they decided to claim it. In 1788, they settled the first of six colonies. Sound familiar? It should. Think back to 1776: we were just writing our Declaration of Independence, disassociating ourselves from those tea drinkers after they made thirteen colonies out of us. (ourdocuments.gov) The year before Britain settled their first Australian colony, we wrote our Constitution.
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| The Australian Colonies |
In the 1850s, gold was discovered in Australia, and in 1861, gold was discovered in New Zealand. In 1851, a man by the name of Edward Hargraves discovered gold in Bathurst, a town in New South Wales (southeastern Australia). “Gold fever gripped the nation” as more and more people rushed to NSW to dig for gold, deserting their hometowns, much like what happened in California and Nevada in 1848 and 1849. (cultureandrecreation.gov.au)
In New Zealand during the 1860s, a series of wars broke out among the Maoris and the British, due to the Maoris’ unwillingness to sell their land. Much like the Revolutionary War in American history, there were some Maoris who sided with the British and fought against their own. (history-nz.org) The wars ended in 1972, with thousands of deaths, a majority of which were Maoris. “By 1900, this was a settler society, with Maori pushed out to its fringes.” This is a lot like how the settlers pushed the Native Americans out of their original land and forced them to move to reservations in the nineteenth century. (nzhistory.net.nz)
All in all, I think the early histories of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States are very similar; all were British colonies, all gained their independence, and all had their fair share of difficulties along the way. Although we all have our differences, Australia, New Zealand, and the US have a lot in common if you take a closer look.
Good job. You made excellent comparisons and pointed out very interesting examples of common events that have affected both countries. I would have liked to see a bit more depth in comparing the natives of the three countries and their similar roles in history.
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