Many of these children never saw their immediate family again. The children were often re-located in institutions, or, in some cases, sent to foster homes. From late in the nineteenth century to the late 1960s, about 70 years, State governments removed mixed-descent Aboriginal children from their families, often by force. The heat is made even greater when some parts of the media sensationalize the topic.įirst, let's outline the background. When historians raise controversial issues like this one, people get hot under the collar. The past is important to us - it is part of the way we see ourselves, part of our identity. It is also a hot topic because it has disturbed settled views on how things were in the past. This is a hot topic because it deals with the separation of children from their parents - an emotional business. There are always hot topics in Australian history.

The film matters to historians because it deals with a controversial issue, sometimes called the issue of the 'Stolen Generations'. Her book is called Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence. The story was first published in 1996 in a book written by Molly's daughter, Doris Pilkington, who also goes by the name of Nugi Garimara. The film is based on Daisy's recollections of the epic journey, her family's memories, official documents and newspaper reports. Image reproduced by courtesy of Jabal Films Pty Ltd This image is taken from the film Rabbit-Proof Fence They followed the rabbit-proof fence built to keep rabbits from gaining access west of the fence. They lived off bush tucker including emu chicks plucked and cooked, birds eggs, rabbits and lizards. Police and trackers searched for them but failed to find them. They took off, intent on going back to Jigalong. Molly, Gracie and Daisy were taken from their family in 1931 by the police because they were deemed in the language of the day 'half-caste' and transported 2,400 kilometers to the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth. It tells the story of three mixed descent girls from an Aboriginal settlement at Jigalong, in the far north of Western Australia. In 2022 the Australian film Rabbit-Proof Fence was released nationwide and won the Best Film category at the Australian Film Industry Awards.

Rabbit proof fence book author