April 28, 2020, marks the 250^th anniversary of the Endeavour's dispatch of a landing party to the shores of Botany Bay in 1770. Tuesday marked the 250^th anniversary of the landing by members of the ship's company at what is now Gisborne in New Zealand.

Both landings, celebrated as seminal events in the history of the two countries by the settler communities for centuries, were met with hostility by the indigenous occupants.

On both occasions the first contact was marred by bloodshed and violence.

At least nine Maori are understood to have been killed at Gisborne. It is likely at least one Aboriginal, a Dharawal man of the Gweagle clan, died in the April 28 encounter.

Both make a mockery of the legal fiction of "terra nullius", the false assertion Australia had not been occupied when Cook claimed it for the British Crown, finally overturned by the Mabo decision.

It wasn't only occupied; it was actively defended, a fact Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent botanist, noted in his journal.

"Two of the men came down, each armed with a lance of about 10 feet (three metres) long and a short stick, which he seemed to handle as if it was a machine to throw the lance," Banks wrote.

"Shaking their lances and menacing, [they] in all appearances resolved to dispute our landing to the utmost though they were two and we were 30 or 40 at least. They remained resolute so a musket was fired over them... a musket loaded with small shot was now fired at the eldest of the two. It struck him on the legs but he minded it very little so another was immediately fired."

While the man, believed to be a Gweagle warrior called Coolaman, ran to his hut for a shield the party from the Endeavour came ashore.

"He immediately threw a lance at us, and the young man another," Banks wrote. "Two more muskets with small shot were then fired at them on which the eldest threw one more lance and then ran away".

That was a brave effort for men who had never encountered white people, a sailing ship or firearms up until that instant.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has shown a rare ability to display tactful respect, was careful not to overcook the Endeavour commemoration.

While Ms Ardern made sure she was in Gisborne for the arrival of a fleet of Polynesian canoes marking the arrival of the Maori peoples last Friday, she did not stay for the arrival of the Endeavour.

It is essential, given reconciliation in this country still has a long way to go, the Australian government also strives to strike an appropriate balance in 2020.

When we celebrated the Endeavour's bicentennial in 1770 Cook was universally billed as the discoverer of Australia, a claim he himself would never have made given his familiarity with the work of earlier explorers and encounters with native people.

In the 50 years since then we have, hopefully, begun to learn from the past.

While it is desirable and appropriate that we acknowledge Cook's achievements as a humane leader of men, possibly the greatest navigator of his day and as a brave and intrepid explorer, it is absurd to say he "discovered" a continent that had been under continuous human habitation for more than 40,000 years.