Similarities and Differences between the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

One of the first comparisons between Australia and the United States would be the colonies. Both the United States and Australia were colonized by Britain. Britain settled six colonies in Australia in 1788 and the first colony in the United States, Virginia, was settled in 1607. The United States ended up having thirteen colonies when the last one was settled in Georgia in 1732(http://www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html). While New Zealand was never colonized, it was at one time ruled by Great Britain also. Britain took control in 1840. New Zealand, the United States, and Australia also have the fact that they all gained independence from Britain in common. The United States gained independence way before the other two in 1776. Australia was second to gain independence in 1901 and New Zealand finally gained independence in 1947. Another thing that they all have in common is gold. The gold rush in all three places was a major event in their history. Australia had their gold rush in the 1850's. The gold caused many people to flock over to where it was and abandon their homes. Although lots of gold was found, the largest piece was supposedly only 9 ounces(http://www.oldmogotown.com.au/goldrush.html). New Zealand had its gold rush starting in 1861. The gold was first found by Gabriel Read and the largest one is called Hon Roddy and is near 100 ounces(http://www.essortment.com/gold-mining-new-zealand-44185.html). The United States also had a significant gold rush in California that started in 1848. During the gold rush almost " half-million people from around the world descended upon California in search of instant wealth"   (http://www.ceres.ca.gov/ceres/calweb/geology/goldrush.html). In all three cases of gold rushing, many people left their homes in search of riches which increased the populations of the US, New Zealand, and Australia immensely. Another thing these three places have in common is their governments. All of them have a democracy. One difference though is the United States does not have a parliamentary government while Australia and New Zealand both do(http://www.australia-migration.com/page/Government/234 and http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107834.html).
  Hon Roddy Nugget from New Zealand

 New Zealand Parliament building

Examination of Creation Stories

1. I believe that almost every culture decided to form a myth about creation was so that they could try and explain to themselves and to others in their tribe or group what could not be explained by science. They wanted to give their own personal touch on how they felt that they were created so that other people who view it the same way. I think people did this so they could explain the unexplainable so they could feel like they knew everything about the world around them instead of having questions inside them that could not be answered. I think this shows that humans are very impatient because they always want an answer about something and they want it fast so often times they will just create an answer that suits their needs. I think creation myths still do have an affect on the world because they are religions all over the world who are making their own stories up about how something was created. You can see these religions all over the news because people fight over them.
2+3. I think these stories reveal a lot about both tribes. Both tribes believe in Gods which shows they are very spiritual. The Aborigines specifically believe in animals and they value those animals. The Aborigines also believe that you need to overcome fear while the Maori believe you need to overcome conflict. Both stories include men and show they are superior so both tribes value them. The similarities are that both tribes believe in Gods and that in both stories their creations turn on them. The differences are though, that Aborigines believed a lot in animals while the Maori believed a lot in children. I think this shows how the two tribes valued things in their societies like how many children they would have or how to treat nature.
4. The myths definitely reveal that people need to not try and be so greedy because it will have terrible outcomes. In the Maori story the kids wanted their parents seperated so they took upon themselves to do and it ended terribly. In the Australia story it talks about how the animals wanted to change a lot, and in society today their are many people who want to change also but in the myth it is frowned upon by Mother Sun. The problems that these myths have in today's society is that many of them are different. This leads to people thinking they are right and wanting to fight for it. These myths cause people to not want to cooperate with people who blieeve in something different then them.
5. I sort of believe in a creation story. I mean I do not go to church often but I still believe in God and the Bibles version of how life came to be, but I kind of do not believe in it also. I guess I am kind of in the middle of believing the Bible and more of a science approach also. I think I mainly believe this because of everything I have seen on tv or read in a book that goes against the Bible, but also at the same time I believe in the Bible because of all the years I have gone to church. This is kind of confusing but I am really indifferent on the creation of human life.