mission station

plural mission stations

1. AustraliaNew ZealandA reserve or other tract of land administered by religious missionaries for the spiritual and material welfare of Aboriginal people.First known use 19th c.

   We wanted to remain on the land and make our living however we could. But, no; the Board would not have that; we must live on the mission station.

   1934, Anna Morgan, “Under the Black Flag”, in Heiss & Minter, editor, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin, published 2008, page 29

   1 more example

   Stockbridge lay in the direct route, and it was constantly feared that the French and Indians would be down from the north, and sweep the little mission station before them; but the tide divided, and passed to the east and west of us, the hostile not daring to encounter the friendly Indians.

   1854, Electa Fidelia Jones, Stockbridge, Past and Present, Or, Records of an Old Mission Station