There were many similarities and differences between the British settlement of Australia and the British settlement of New Zealand. We could say that since the British already colonised Australia, they would learn from their mistakes and try to colonise New Zealand in a more humane way.

 

Similarities

Even though Britain learnt from the mistakes when settling Australia, there are still lots of similarities. In both cases, Britain had no pre-knowledge of the tribes (Indigenous Australians and the Māori people): they did not know how to speak the Indigenous language, did not know their culture and customs and they were also cluless about how to make themselves welcome into a different culture.

 

Both situations, the way of settlement was cruel and ferocious. The actions of the settlers were also a common factor. The British did not take into account that the Indigenous Australians and the Māori people were humans, and treated them as objects rather than something of their own kind. They treated them with violence and forced them to either starve and live in poverty, or assimilate into the British culture and customs. Within weeks of settlement of the both countries, the British established their own settlement and gradually expanded it as time passed.

 

Because the culture of the Indigenous Australians and the Māori were so similar, the British would automatically assume that both of those cultures would need help in developing and therefore used the same techniques to get that done. 

 

Differences

According to my research, I did not find as much differences as there were similarities. One obvious difference was that the British did sign a Treaty of Waitangi when settling with the Māori. This was not done when settling with the Indigenous Australians. As stated before, the Treaty showed that the British needed to treat the Māori people as the British would treat themselves and have the same rights as the British subjects (according to the British). However, Māori people believed that they still had the right to own New Zealand. But it did not turn out to be so because of the factors previously mentioned.