We’re really not so different from our feathered friends ...
DIGITAL ALL ACCESS
We came to New Zealand from Australia some 21 years ago. It’s been an especially good move in relation to rearing children and having the opportunity to get involved in community. Perhaps not so much for career opportunities or cutting-edge healthcare.
Australia and New Zealand are broadly similar in terms of culture and behaviour, though differences certainly exist. Some are contrasting and hit you in the face.
Others are quite subtle and you can’t see them until you’ve been back in the other country for a visit. I reckon those dissimilarities in behaviour partly reflect the geology of the countries.
New Zealand behaviour tends to have a short-term focus, much like the constantly evolving land around an active faultline. We don’t tend to do things with permanence, with our shortcut, she’ll-be-right attitude, No 8 wire thinking where near-enough is good enough.
In Australia, the geology is old and moves slowly. People there tend to be more geographically settled, like their rocks, and so build things to last.
I further my hypothesis that our behaviour reflects our natural fauna too. Whether that is through the geology of each place or whether we just mimic the animals we share our land with. Maybe it’s a bit of both.
The various birds in the two countries provide a great example of how we differ as a people. We’ll ignore the other animals over there – snakes, crocodiles and spiders included – because we only have birds over here to compare to.
Some would, however, suggest that those death-dealing animals mimic how Aussies conduct themselves at times, but inferring that might cause a reverse underarm response.
Anyhow, a recent trip back to Oz highlighted for me the bird thing. We were awakened in the morning by the loud chattering of small birds in the trees and the laughing of kookaburras.
Up high in the blue sky, you can hear the faraway caw of the ‘‘bogan’’ crows, and down low, the colourful argumentative parrots squawking over who sits where. There is nothing modest about Aussie birds, nor are they self-conscious. They just go about their days doing their thing seemingly not worried about what else is going on or what anyone thinks about them.
They are often very “colourful” in many senses of the word, and keen to be seen.
Most of the birds of Aotearoa, on the other hand, poke around on the forest floor with their heads down, in their own world, and oblivious to what’s happening above.
There is the odd exception like the kererū, which flies full throttle at low altitude, dangerously and sometimes seemingly drunk. And the bossy male tūī flitting from one flowering flax to the next picking fights with his medallion-wearing contenders.
You would not consider New Zealand birds colourful like Australian birds, and certainly not rowdy. Our birds are mostly black, grey or brown, blending into their surroundings and not wanting to stand out. Maybe they are weary of putting their head up and getting it shot off?
Now it would be difficult to test my hypothesis that the behaviour of people either side of “the ditch’’ reflects that of birds. Firstly, because the NZ birds would probably baulk at being study participants, and secondly, Aussie birds just wouldn’t care to be involved.
On the other hand, us humans here in New Zealand are quite happy to refer to ourselves as Kiwis and dress in grey and black like our namesake. In Australia, they’d call me a ‘‘galah’’ just for coming up with the idea. And they’d call me cocky if I was brazen enough to think I was right. Steve Stannard is a former Massey University academic who owns a cafe in Palmerston North.