Missions Provided Refuge for Aboriginal People

The early missions did provide refuge a from the most severe of frontier conditions, where there was settled a violence against them. And so missions provided refuge for aboriginal people. Yet the trade off was that they were constantly trying to change them and civilize them. That was a double edged sord for avoriginal people. But they came to have a very good relationship with many missionaries. They are able to find a way to retain culture as best they could, to retain some freedoms.