Shelter has always been a necessity for mankind. We, as humans, have a relationship with the land that we must respect to live happily amongst it. Spaning back as far as the pre-Colonial Australia, indigenous Australians understood this connection excellently. Their shelters seemed to ‘bend with the land’ as they understood crucial elements within the architecture to compensate for distinctive climate and cultural factors to fit their nomadic lifestyle. Their living style was very minimalistic yet practical. The indigenous Australians only built what they needed to survive. For evidence of this, we will be looking at the text; ‘Gunyah, Goondie and Wurley: the Aboriginal architecture of Australia’ by Paul Memmott as he discussed the social dynamics and structural design of the indigenous communities. Conversely, indigenous New Zealanders had a more conventional comprehension of space and planning of their more permanent townships. The shelters of the New Zealand tribes created community importance with their detailed Maori. As a key example of these traditional settlements, ‘Historic buildings of New Zealand’ from the New Zealand Historic Places Trust shows us many detailed plans of this living style and complete descriptions of the Maoris’. The indigenous New Zealanders built shelters to provide basics of societal living and town leadership as well as for the necessity of housing. However, both communities had an outstanding respect and comprehension for the environment they surrounding themselves with. This essay will explore both the similarities and juxtapositions between the shelters of the indigenous Australians and New Zealanders, how this enriches their connection with the environment and their community lifestyle.
Indigenous lifestyle and architecture of any kind has always been recognised as vastly different from Western moulds. The Aboriginal tribes of far north show complete
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