What is the difference in Aboriginal missions and Aboriginal Reserves?

Answer 1

An aboriginal mission is a place/church where Aboriginies were kept to be converted to Christians and to be influenced by European culture.

A reserve is a place set aside for the aboriginies to live in alone

Answer 2

Aboriginal Missions and reserves were protected areas where Aborigines were housed, although often at the expense of their culture.

In many cases, these missions were established by Christian groups who had the Aborigines' interests at heart, but who also misunderstood the importance of the aboriginal culture. There were exceptions, where the Aborigines were free to live in as traditional a manner as they wished, or to become involved in white culture.

Government reserves were introduced when the Aborigines expressed their dissatisfaction with the missions, and these reserves were often simply the government taking over old missions. These tended to suppress the aboriginal culture, introducing white language, customs, education, foods, religion and culture at the expense of the Aborigines. Missions led to the terrible chapter in Australian history known as the "Stolen generations", when aboriginal children were taken from their homes and families and rehoused in white settlers' homes, sometimes in an attempt to stamp out the aboriginal culture entirely.

Whilst there is no doubt that aboriginal culture suffered because of missions and reserves, the plight of the Aborigines may have been worse without the protection afforded by these places. Aborigines were subject to dispossession of their lands and rape and murder by white station owners, pastoralists and even police (e.g. the Coniston Massacres). The missions and reserves gave Aborigines some safety from this threat.