Brief History of
Oceania
LECTURE #1
Australia & New Zealand
Early Times – Colonial Period
Migration to Australia

First people in Australia came from
Southeast Asia


Crossed land bridges (when possible)
Also used boats/canoes
Aborigines

First people to live in Australia


50,000 years before Europeans
Lived in tribes, in small villages



Food came mostly from the sea (fish)
Also grew yams, fruits, taro
Nomadic people
Colonial Period



First European explorers came
around 1500 A.D.
1800s - In search of whale oil,
more exploration occurred when
whalers followed animals to
Oceania
Capt. James Cook (right) –
explorer of Australia & New
Zealand (1770s)
European Settlement of Australia

1788


1851


Great Britain turns Australia into prison colony
Gold discovered, bringing many European
settlers
Decline of Indigenous people (Aborigine)


Fighting for control of land
Could not combat European diseases
Brief History of
Oceania
LECTURE #2
Australia & New Zealand
New Zealand & Modern Auzzieland
New Zealand in Brief



First settled between
950-1130 A.D.
First explored by
Europeans in 1630
(Abel Tasman)
Capt. James Cook
explored NZ in 1769
New Zealand Today

Government


Member of the British Commonwealth, but completely
independent (like Canada)
Voting: Every person 18+ can vote

Elections every 3 years
• Economy
• Mostly agriculture
and tourism
• However, there are
13 times more sheep
than people in New
Zealand
5 Things You didn’t Know
about Aussieland
Australia is REALLY BIG
1.

6th largest country (physically) in the world
(slightly smaller than continental USA)
Australia is REALLY EMPTY
2.

Only 20 million residents (USA has 300 million)
Australia has really dangerous animals
(yes and no!)
3.


More people have died from lightning strikes
than shark attacks
More people died from bee stings (20) than
died from shark attacks, crocodile attacks and
spider bites combined.
5 Things (cont’d)
4. Australians are hard
workers

In 2004, Australian's
ranked third in a list of
average hours worked
each year amongst
industrial countries
behind New Zealand (1)
and the USA (2) and
ahead of Japan (5),
Britain (8) and Germany
(12).
5. Rugby Players are tougher than
Soccer (football) Players