Videos
Why Britain Signed a Treaty with the Māori—but Not with Australia’s Aboriginal Peoples
Why did Britain negotiate a treaty with Māori chiefs in New Zealand but claim Australia as terra nullius—“land belonging to no one”?
This video explores the deep historical and legal differences between the colonisation of Australia and New Zealand, drawing on historian Bain Attwood’s book Empire and the Making of Native Title. From Lord Sydney’s penal experiment to Governor Grey’s pragmatic purchases, we uncover how power, perception, and expediency—not ideals—determined who got a treaty and who didn’t.
We’ll trace how 19th-century ideas of sovereignty, property, and cultivation shaped British colonial policy, why Māori were seen as political actors while Aboriginal peoples were not, and how these choices still reverberate through today’s debates over land rights, national identity, and sovereignty.
This video is based on Sean Welsh’s review of Empire and the Making of Native Title (Quillette, 3 July 2025):
Sean Welsh
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