Film Study - Rabbit Proof Fence
Character/scene/setting
Molly’s community and culture
Removal scene (when children are
taken)
Description/details
Family hunt, play and laugh together.
Positive – family look comfortable there.
White people also in the community. Appears to
be harmonious.
Afraid that police would come and take the
children.
Believe in spirit animals (totems)
Rations given out by white men to Aboriginal
people.
The children try to run away from the policeman
and the women try to protect them.
The girls are aggressively ripped out of their
mother’s grip.
The women scream and beg for them not to be
taken.
They fight and struggle and are very scared.
The women mourn after the children have been
taken (wailing and hitting head with rock are
traditional mourning behaviours)
The girls are put in a cage on the train, as though
they are animals, not children.
What it helps viewers understand
Aboriginal peoples at the time were seen to be in
need of help by white people, but they were
comfortable living in their own communities.
They had a strong connection to family and the
land where they were from.
They practiced aspects of their traditional
lifestyle, such as hunting goanna.
Family connections were important.
Highlights the trauma, pain and cruelty of taking
children from their families.
Highlights that Aboriginal people were treatly
inhumanely and were completely powerless.
Little compassion was shown for the children or
their families.
White people couldn’t help even if they wanted
to, because removing children was legal.

Moore River settlement
Mr Neville (‘Chief Protector of
Aborigines’)/government policies
Big locks on the dormitory doors.
Girls are required to get out of bed when told
and make their beds.
Children are made to say a Christian prayer
before they eat. They are not allowed to talk at
meal times or to speak their own language
-‘jabber’.
They wear identical plain dresses.
Children with lighter skin are sent to ‘proper
school’.
Unfamiliar and unappetising food.
Harsh punishments such as having head shaved
and being locked in a small shed for attempting
to run away.
Children are made to attend Church.
Warns against creating an ‘unwanted third race’.
Asks should “the coloureds be encouraged to go
back to the black or should they be advanced to
white status?’
Called Mr Devil by some of the girls.
“Hundreds of half-caste children have been
gathered up…to be given the benefit of
everything our culture has to offer”.
“In spite of himself, the native must be helped’.
He says to Molly: “We’re here to help and
encourage you in this new world”
“If they would only understand what we are
trying to do for them”
The children were prisoners.
They were not allowed to have any individual
identity.
There was no love, care or affection shown.
They were given a strong message that their
language, spiritual beliefs and cultural identity
were unacceptable and inferior to white ways.
There was assumption that lighter skinned
children were superior and more intelligent.
There was no respect for Aboriginal cultures
shown by the authorities or religious groups at
all.
Mr Neville had enormous power over the lives of
Aboriginal people in Western Australia.
He believed that the British way of life was
superior to that of other races.
He seemed to believe he was helping the
children.
There was a paternalistic and ignorant attitude
towards Aboriginal people. It was believed they
didn’t know what was best for themselves and
they were not allowed to make decisions for
themselves.
They were unable to fight back against decisions
made for them because they would be punished.

Molly (and Gracie and Daisy)
Mavis
Mr Neville ‘s permission must be sought by
Aboriginal people wanting to visit their children,
get married and even buy a pair of shoes.
Molly fights determinedly when she is being
taken.
She wants to find a way out of Moore River as
soon as she can.
Molly is courageous and protective of her sister
and cousin.
She is smart and determined and not afraid to
embark on the long walk home.
She knows how to avoid the tracker finding the
girls’ tracks – leaves just before the rain comes,
taking off their shoes etc.
Gracie is so desperate to see her mother that she
leaves the other girls to go to the train station to
catch a train to where she’s told her mother is.
A young woman who was taken to Moore River
as a child - now been sent to be a servant for a
white couple.
It is apparent that her employer is abusing her.
She wears similar clothing to what the girls were
given at Moore River
She is very happy to see the girls and doesn’t
want them to leave.
Mr Neville and others seemed completely
ignorant about the trauma they were inflicting.
There was no regret or concern from white
people about the damage being done to
traditional Aboriginal cultures or people.
The girls longed to be at home with their family.
This desire was strong that they were willing to
endure hunger, thirst and exhaustion for 2
months to try and get home.
It is clear that members of the Stolen
Generations did not see themselves as being
rescued or saved – this was only a white
perception.
Mavis helps viewers to realise what the future
would look like for the girls if they had stayed at
Moore River.
Aboriginal adults were not safe from
disempowerment and abuse by the government.
Life for many adults who had been taken from
their families as children continued to be difficult
and didn’t include culture or family
Mavis is desperately lonely, separated from her
own people, trapped and abused, still suffering
from the impact of child removal policies – their
impact is lifelong.

Tracker
Real life Molly – final scene
Very skilful at tracking.
His daughter is at Moore River.
He has admiration for Molly’s determination and
intelligence and can relate to the girls’ longing to
go home.
Has a longing to return to his country (The
Kimberley region) but does not want to leave his
daughter.
He is pleased when it is decided to give up trying
to catch the girls during their journey.
“She’s pretty clever that girl. She wants to go
home.”
Molly had two children after which she and the
children were taken back to Moore River.
She walked all the way back to Jigalong again,
carrying her youngest daughter.
The little girl was taken by authorities at the age
of 3.
Molly never saw her daughter again.
Gracie died without ever having made it home to
Jigalong.
Molly and Daisy are now elderly, still living at
Jigalong, on their own country.
Moodoo is trapped and exploited. Even this
dignified, skilled Aboriginal man is powerless
against the white authorities.
The cycle of cruelty and trauma continued with
Molly having her own child taken by authorities,
which highlights the complete powerlessness of
Aboriginal people over their own fate.
The authorities didn’t care about Molly’s
determination to remain on her own country
and to raise her children there.
The policy of taking Aboriginal children from
their families affected many generations and
some people lost contact with their families
forever.