How did missionaries affect aboriginal way of life?

Answer 1

The missionaries brought Christianity and basic education to the aborigines of remote Australia. To aid in their management of the aboriginal population, they encouraged them to move from their traditional lifestyles onto centralised missions. Here, they were provided such necessities as flour, sugar and tea, so that they did not need to leave the missions to hunt for food.

The centralised lifestyle soon brought the people into close contact with white Australians, bringing them occasional, low paid work and access to alcohol. The teaching of Christianity meant that the aborigines were encouraged to forget their traditional religions and cultures. They began to be forced to speak English at all times, thus losing their native languages and traditions.

Gradually, Alcoholism, sexual diseases and domestic violence became part of the lifestyle of many aborigines in remote areas. With large numbers of children of mixed racial heritage, the governments and missions worked together in many cases, to remove these children and offer them what was thought to be a better lifestyle.

There were both positive and negative outcomes of the missionaries involvement in aboriginal communities, and not all the problems of modern aboriginal communities are solely the result of missionary intervention.

Answer 2

When the white settlers came, the indeignous Australians known as Aborigines were dispossessed of their land and, much later, "encouraged" onto reserves, supposedly for their protection. They were forced off their traditional hunting grounds, and certainly herded away from the fertile coastal areas where there was plenty of food. White settlers wrecked the very effective native fishing traps, cleared native habitats and reduced the native food supplies, as well as polluting their water.

Massacres of the indigenous people occurred on a regular basis. The Coniston massacre, the massacre at Myall Creek, the "Battle of Risdon" in Tasmania and many others, all were perpetrated against the Aborigines by the Europeans. There were years of conflict between Tasmanian Aborigines and white settlers which eventually resulted in the loss of the purebred aboriginal race from Tasmania - virtually genocide.

The Europeans also introduced foods and diseases, all of which were perfectly harmless to the white settlers, but lowered the life expectancy of the aboriginal people. Simple diseases like Measles and Influenza had devastating effects on Aborigines. Foods containing wheat and sugar resulted in Heart disease and obesity among the indigenous Australians. Europeans introduced new flora and fauna which took over native habitat, leading to the extinction of many plants and animals on which the Aborigines relied.

When the aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their families, this directly led to a loss of culture, language, customs and traditions among the Aborigines. When the Europeans first came to Australia, there were around 250 different aboriginal languages in Australia. There is just a fraction of that number now. Many stories from the aboriginal Dreaming (creation legends) have disappeared forever.