It's really interesting that the three names for so-called Australia in te reo each reflect a different worldview
Ahitereiria is just an transliteration of the colonial name and a reflection of the colonial view and identity of Australia
Te Pāpaka-a-Māui mirrors Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Waka-a-Māui, the North Island and South Island of Aotearoa/NZ.
And when you consider it in the context of tohunga wetereo Māori moving away from alliteration and promoting new words from within te reo it is explicitly trying to present a Māori worldview
But I recently found out a new name for Australia, which I learnt from Māori Australians but never heard in Aotearoa:
Te Whenua Moemoeā, 'the land of dreaming', (and Ngā Iwi Moemoeā, 'the dreaming peoples'), are entirely in te reo Māori but actively align themselves with a worldview from the land speakers live on and from people they live alongside. And it opposes the presumption of 'colonial name' as 'definitive name'.
It also kinda highlights how easy it actually is to listen and learn. Puts a lot of acknowledgements of Country to shame ngl.
















