The difference in cultures between the Aborigines, members of the so-called “fourth world,” and the British in the 18th century could hardly have been more extreme. The former was a seminomadic, unsophisticated, and stone-age culture, and archeologists are amazed that they did not follow the path of other stone-age people towards environmental mastery through technology. The latter, on the other hand, was a culture characterized as Christian, urban, industrial, and technologically advanced. The clash of Christian theology and Aboriginal religion in this context posed enormous problems.
