Follow the Rabbit-proof Fence

Front Cover
Univ. of Queensland Press, 2002 - Biography & Autobiography - 136 pages
This is an extraordinary story of courage and faith. It is based on the actual experiences of three girls who fled from the repressive life of Moore River Native Settlement, following along the rabbit-proof fence back to their homelands. Assimilationist policy deemed these girls were taken from their kin and their land in order to be made white. Never having seen the ocean before, the three girls' experience of transportation by boat to the settlement was tormenting. But their torment was just beginning. Settlement life was unbearable with its chains and padlocks, barred windows, hard cold beds and horrible food. Solitary confinement was doled out as regular punishment. They were not even allowed to speak their language. Of all the journeys made since white people set foot on Australian soil, the 1931 journey made by these girls born of Aboriginal mothers and white fathers speaks something to us all.
 

Contents

The First Military Post
1
The Swan River Colony
8
The Decline of Aboriginal Society
13
From the Deserts They Came
18
Jigalong
34
The Journey South
50
The Moore River Native Settlement
62
The Escape
75
What Happened to Them? Where are They Now?
131
Glossary
134
References
136
Copyright
143
Copyright

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About the author (2002)

Doris Pilkington ’s traditional name is Nugi Garimara. She was born in 1937 on Balfour Downs Station in the homeland of her Mardu ancestors. As a toddler she was removed by authorities from her home at the station and committed to Moore River Native Settlement, from which she escaped. She is the author of Home to Mother and Under the Wintamarra Tree.