Why are the Māori people, who arrived in the 1300s, so well recognized in NZ but Aboriginal Australians, who are said to be 65000 years old inhabitants, not so well recognized in Australia?

Question

I will be immigrating to either of these countries next year and was just reading about their history & culture, and found this weird.

The Europeans arrived in NZ just about 300 years after the Māori, yet majority of the cities/towns/hamlets you see in NZ are named after Māori names, Māori culture has been well integrated with the European culture and are very well recognized/respected, for example the Haka dance done on multiple occasions by the national rugby union team, the Māori name of NZ on the passport (Aotearoa), the Māori traditions and symbols etc.

But, you don’t see the same level of cognizance for Aboriginal Australians in Australia, even though they are said be 65000 years. There are hardly any cities named after Aboriginal names, no sign of Aboriginal culture integrated into the Australian lingo or cultural practices?

So, why does this incongruity exist between both the nations?

**EDIT**: Thank you so much for the detailed answers, everyone! I appreciate it dearly. Learnt a lot of new things today 🙂

In: Other

Answer 1

An interesting comparison is that the New Zealand Wars went from 1845 to 1872, immediately after disease took the lives of 120,000 Māori from 1810 to 1840. The NZ wars death toll was about 736 British and Colonial troops, and 2254 Māori combatants over those 27 years. The result was a crown victory and punitive land confiscations and as others have said, this is where the forced cultural suppression began. The legacy continues today, with battles being fought in courtrooms. In 2003, my own tribe won back land that had been illegally confiscated, but you can imagine all the land the crown made off with as a result of no-one being able to contest claims. My father told me he was caned for speaking Māori in school and there are examples of segregation as recently as the 1960s.

In contrast, the Australian Frontier Wars went from 1788 to 1934, that cost the lives of 100,000-115,000 Aboriginal combatants alone. Another crown victory, but there was no treaty signed, indigenous people were dispossessed, with populations decimated by epidemics, killings, starvation and forced migration.

As bad as that is, you also have the American Indian Wars from 1609 to 1890, with an estimated 55 million dead Native American Indians.

Colonization is a disgusting black mark on humanity. We have a long way to go for true reconciliation and respect.