75 (in a 135 page book) for the girls to escape. I was surprised that much of the book was history- it took up to p. (You can read more about the writing of the book here). She didn’t learn the story of her mother and aunt’s escape for another ten years after that. She, too, ended up at that same Moore River, having been separated from her mother Molly at the age of four, and not seeing her again for more than twenty years. Pilkington, like her mother and aunt, was also part of the Stolen Generation. The three girls escaped and walked home 1600 km in three months through the West Australian desert, orienting themselves in the huge expanse by following the rabbit-proof fence, a long fence intended to stop rabbits from entering the West Australian pastoral district.ĭoris Pilkington is Molly’s daughter, but she knew little of her mother’s history until her aunt told her. Am I the only person in Australia who has not read ‘Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence’ or seen the movie? I suspect that I am.įirst published in 1996, reprinted in 2000 and released as a movie in 2002, it is the story of Molly (14), Daisy (11) and Grace (8) who were forcibly removed from their families and taken to Moore River Native Settlement in 1931.
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