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

Australia was declared by the British to be ‘Terra Nullius’ or ‘No Man’s Land’, as they didn’t see evidence of crops, villages or settlement. So when the First Fleet arrived in 1788, a settlement was established at will with no negotiation or reparation to the traditional owners. Any act by the Aborigines to keep their traditional grounds or to protest against the settlers was seen as a crime against the Crown, and punished harshly. Aboriginal languages were discouraged, and children were removed from their parents, tribes and culture to be taught the ‘right’ way.

To this day, there is still no ‘treaty’ between the Australian Indigenous people, the government, and the British Crown.

From the start, the British sought an arguably more peaceful settlement with the Māori, with the Treaty of Waitangi being a shared understanding between them and 540 chiefs. Tribes were allowed to keep their lands and their language, with these words being adopted by the settlers. Māori culture was embedded into the landscape from the start, and that has made a difference to the country’s attitude and ongoing progress.