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