What is Rabbit-Proof Fence about?
Rabbit-Proof Fence is a 2002 Australian drama about three Aboriginal girls who escape from a settlement in 1931 and walk about 1,600 kilometres home along the rabbit-proof fence in Western Australia.
The film is based on the true story told in the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara, the daughter of Molly Craig, one of the girls. Molly, her sister Daisy and cousin Gracie were taken from their families under government policies.
The girls were sent to the Moore River Native Settlement north of Perth. They escaped and followed the fence, which stretched across the state, to return to their home at Jigalong.
The Stolen Generations
Directed by Phillip Noyce, the film brought the story of the Stolen Generations to a wide audience. Kenneth Branagh played A. O. Neville, the official in charge of Aboriginal affairs.
The three young actors, Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury and Laura Monaghan, had never acted before and were found through searches in Aboriginal communities.
The atmospheric music was composed by Peter Gabriel. The film won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film and helped spark national conversations about the 1997 Bringing Them Home report and the later National Apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008.
Did You Know?
The rabbit-proof fence itself was built in the early 1900s and was one of the longest fences in the world.