In 950 AD, the Maori chief Kupe travels to Aotearoa (which means Land of the Long White Cloud, what we today call New Zealand). However, large scale settlement of the Maoris in New Zealand would not occur until much later.

Buildings made of stone slabs, often on top of mounds, could be a sign of social change among the Polynesians of Tonga. The new type of buildings could mean a privileged noble class had developed. Competition between these nobles appear to have led to the rise of a supreme chieftain or king, called a TuOi in the Tongan language, with a capital at Heketa. This is suspected because of the construction of a large number of monuments here. These were not built over a long number of years, but were all built more or less at the same time at some point after 500 AD.

The Aboriginal peoples practised a kind of farming. By controlled burning, they kept the bush open and allowed the growth of new seedlings in the ash-bed. Aboriginals in Arnhem Land (northern Australia) still do this. Many Australian plants will re-grow quickly after a fire; indeed some plants such as the grass-tree flower more prolifically after fire. At least half of the food eaten by Aboriginals came from plants, and it was the task of the women to collect them. Just as we eat root vegetables, greens, fruits and seeds, so did the Aborigines. Fruits, seeds and greens were only available during their appropriate seasons, but roots could usually be dug up all the year round, because the earth acted as a natural storage cupboard. Important foods were replanted. The regular digging-over of the soil, and the thinning out of clumps by collection of plants, together with burning to provide fertiliser, is not very different from what we do in our own gardens.

The stands of bunya pine attracted Aboriginal clans from all over the modern Australian state of Queensland. When this tree is mature it bears large green cones, and inside each scale of the cone will be found a hard-shelled nut about 5cm long. These nuts were such a popular food that tribes came from hundreds of kilometres around the Bunya Mountains in southern Queensland to feast on them. Particular trees were considered to be the property of certain Aboriginal families, but everyone was invited to share the delicious nuts, which are not unlike chestnuts when roasted in the fire. Although found only in Queensland, bunya pines have since been planted throughout southern Australia, and the nuts may sometimes be bought in Sydney markets.