person or book cover
Screen cap from promotional trailer
form y separately published work icon Rabbit-Proof Fence single work   film/TV  
Adaptation of Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence Doris Pilkington Garimara , 1996 single work biography
Issue Details: First known date: 2002... 2002 Rabbit-Proof Fence
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Based on real life events that occurred in 1931, Rabbit-Proof Fence is the story of three mixed-race Aboriginal children who are forcibly abducted from their mothers by the Western Australian government. Molly (aged fourteen), her sister Daisy (aged eight), and their cousin Gracie (aged ten) are taken from their homes at Jigalong, situated in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, at the orders of the Protector of Aborigines, A.O. Neville, and sent to an institution at Moore River to be educated and trained as domestic servants. After a few days, Molly leads the other two girls in an escape. What ensues is an epic journey that tests the girls' will to survive and their hope of finding the rabbit-proof fence to guide them home.

Although they are pursued by the institution's Aboriginal tracker and the police, Molly knows enough about bush craft to help them hide their tracks. They head east in search of the world's longest fence - built to keep rabbits out - because Molly knows that this will lead them back to Jigalong. Over the course of nine weeks, the girls walk almost 2,400 kilometres before Gracie is captured attempting to catch a train. Molly and Daisy avoid capture but eventually collapse from exhaustion on the saltpans not far from Jigalong. When they wake, they see the spirit bird, an eagle, flying overhead. Its significance gives the girls the extra energy they need and they are able to make it back to their home.

Exhibitions

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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Form: screenplay
    • Strawberry Hills, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 2002 .
      image of person or book cover 8996602344211413881.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Alternative title: Rabbit-Proof Fence : The Screenplay
      Extent: ix, 87p., [8]p. of platesp.
      Description: illus., ports
      Note/s:
      • 171 scenes
      ISBN: 086819655X

Works about this Work

A Historical Review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Storytelling, Resistance, Reclamation and Education through Film Emma Gavin , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues , December vol. 26 no. 3-4 2023;
Screening the Australian Novel, 1971-2020 Imelda Whelehan , Claire McCarthy , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
Rabbit-Proof Fence at 20 : ‘It was such a tough gig for three young blackfellas’ Mark Naglazas , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 3 September 2022;
David Dalaithngu's Screen Presence Changed Australia's Film Industry Forever. Here's a Look at Some of His Major Roles Alice Dempster , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , November 2021;
The Stakes of Settlement : Fences in Ned Kelly and Michael Farrell James Jiang , 2021 single work essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , August no. 102 2021;

'William Blake’s articulation of the ‘bounding line’ as ‘the great and golden rule of art, as well as of life’ may seem a far-fetched place to start an examination of the poetics of the fence in Australian poetry. The line’s cosmic necessity and ethical force were being asserted by Blake in the context of a long-running dispute amongst art theorists as to whether outline or colour was the predominant element in the pictorial arts. But my mind reverts to this quotation when thinking about the cathected attitude to lines, boundaries, and fences that is emblematic of the settler-colonial establishment in this country in both its agrarian and suburban contexts.' (Introduction)

Untitled Alison Lawrence , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 17 no. 1 2003; (p. 31-32)

— Review of Rabbit-Proof Fence Christine Olsen , 2002 single work film/TV
Untitled Tony Hughes-d'Aeth , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: JAS Review of Books , June no. 16 2003;

— Review of Rabbit-Proof Fence Christine Olsen , 2002 single work film/TV
Untitled Jonathan Dawson , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , October no. 43 2003; (p. 179-183)

— Review of Dirty Deeds David Caesar , 2002 single work film/TV ; Rabbit-Proof Fence Christine Olsen , 2002 single work film/TV
A Heartfelt but Limited Work Richard Philips , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: World Socialist Web Site 1993-;

— Review of Rabbit-Proof Fence Christine Olsen , 2002 single work film/TV
CoverNotes Mike Shuttleworth , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 20 January 2002; (p. 11)

— Review of Eyes in the Dark Kim Dale , 2001 single work picture book ; Rabbit-Proof Fence Christine Olsen , 2002 single work film/TV
Out Takes Lynden Barber , 2002 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 15 November 2002; (p. 20)
'This Is a True Story' : Rabbit-Proof Fence, 'Mr Devil' and the Desire to Forget Tony Birch , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: Cultural Studies Review , May vol. 8 no. 1 2002; (p. 117-129)
Discusses the reception and historical background of the film.
Back Tracking Brian McFarlane , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 62 no. 1 2003; (p. 59-68)
Examines some issues raised by the making of Australian films about Aboriginal people in historical settings by white filmmakers.
'Echoes Across the Flats' : Storytelling and Phillip Noyce's Rabbit Proof Fence (2002) Monique Rooney , 2002 single work essay
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 62 no. 3 2002; (p. 107-117)
The Battle Against Forgetting Sharon Verghis , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11 April 2002; (p. 14)
Last amended 14 Mar 2019 22:50:50
Subjects:
  • Moore River, Guilderton - Gingin area, Southwest Western Australia, Western Australia,
  • Moore River Native Settlement (1918-1951), Western Australia,
Settings:
  • 1930s
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