Stories from Down Under

It is remarkable how little we know about the indigenous people of Australia and New Zealand.  We only realised this when we studied their culture and history very briefly (in one chapter).  It seems that these cultures were passed down in generations through oral traditions, hence there is not much written documentation found about their origins.  A lot of what we have learnt about them is through legends, myths, and stories.

Tiger was able to learn a little more through reading these books:

We also watched a few clips about them.  There are other more sombre videos about how these indigeous people were marginalised and persecuted by settlers, but we did not watch those as I do not want to get into such a grim aspect of history at this point.  Mostly probably we will be studying about it next year.

Australia clips:

New Zeland clips:

I must add that, after watching the clips, Tiger and I did not really know what to make of them.  I don't think I can claim to have a better understanding of their culture and how they lived.  I feel that we have a better understanding of the Celts than we do of the Australian Aborigines or the New Zeland Maoris.  I wonder whether this is because our understanding of the Celts has been aided by us living in the same land, where we have ready access to documentations, stories, and artefacts, and still see evidence of Celtic influence in our landscape and culture.  My guess is that an Australian family and a New Zelander family will have a totally different experience from us when studying this chapter.

This post is linked up to several blog hops, where you can visit to see what other homeschoolers have been busy with.  It is also linked to the Carnival of Homeschooling #334.