29-585: Jigalong is a remote Aboriginal community of approximately 333 people located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia . The traditional owners of the land are the Martu people . Jigalong is in the Pilbara region of Western Australia , approximately 165 kilometres (103 mi) east of the town of Newman in the Shire of East Pilbara local government area. The community is located in an Aboriginal Lands Trust reserve on
58-678: A student enrollment of around 120 children. The community has a medical centre run by the Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Services . Patients with serious illnesses and injuries are usually flown to Port Hedland —400 kilometres (250 mi) north west of Jigalong—by the Royal Flying Doctor Service . In 2019, the Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program , a joint project between National Indigenous Australians Agency (formerly
87-402: A train station. They are not reunited, however, as Riggs appears and Gracie is recaptured. The betrayal is revealed by Riggs, who tells the man he will receive a shilling for his help. Knowing they are powerless to aid her, Molly and Daisy continue their journey. In the end, after a nine-week journey through the harsh Australian outback, having walked the 1,600 km (990 mi) route along
116-644: The Moore River Native Settlement , north of Perth , Western Australia, to return to their Aboriginal families. They had been removed from their families and placed there in 1931. The film follows the Aboriginal girls as they walk for nine weeks along 1,600 km (990 mi) of the Australian rabbit-proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong . They were pursued by white law enforcement officials and an Aboriginal tracker . The film explores
145-500: The Stolen Generations . Eric Abetz , a government minister, announced the publication of a leaflet criticising the film's portrayal of the treatment of Indigenous Australians, and demanded an apology from the filmmakers. Director Phillip Noyce suggested that instead the government should apologise to the numerous Indigenous people affected by the removal policy. Conservative commentators, such as Andrew Bolt , also attacked
174-446: The Aboriginal people of Australia were a danger to themselves, and the "half-castes" must be bred out of existence. He plans to place the girls in a camp where they, along with all half-castes of that age range, both boys and girls, will grow up. They would be trained to work as labourers and servants to white families, which were regarded as "good" situations for them in life. It was assumed that they would marry whites, and so on through
203-561: The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet) and the Australian Army , commissioned the creation of a community-owned youth centre. They also facilitated the development of an outdoor barbecue setting, creek culvert, and public amenities block. The community hosts a range of stakeholder facilities, including a BHP construction shed established by the mining company, and a women's centre run by Ashburton Aboriginal Corporation . Jigalong
232-604: The West Australian Government". Rabbit-Proof Fence (film) Rabbit-Proof Fence is a 2002 Australian epic drama film directed and produced by Phillip Noyce . It was based on the 1996 book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara , an Aboriginal Australian author. It is loosely based on the author's mother Molly Craig , aunt Daisy Kadibil , and cousin Gracie, who escaped from
261-621: The Wintamarra Tree (2002). Stills photographs in the film were made by well-known Aboriginal Australian photographer Mervyn Bishop . His work is held at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia. The film stirred controversy in Australia relating to the government's historical policy of removing mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families in Aboriginal communities and placing them in state institutions. They became known as
290-462: The areas, or relocated under various Government acts. The Aboriginal Communities Act 1979 allowed Aboriginal councils to make and enforce by-laws on their land. Originally it only applied to the Bidyadanga and Bardi communities, but was subsequently extended to others. In the 1980s and 1990s, effort was made to support indigenous communities. In 2014 and 2015 the support of some of
319-418: The camp's rules. Attempts at escape are also harshly punished. During an impending thunderstorm that will help cover their tracks, Molly convinces the girls to escape and return to their home. During their flight, the girls are relentlessly pursued by Moodoo, an Aboriginal tracker from the camp. They eventually find their way back to the rabbit-proof fence, which will lead them toward their home. They follow
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#1732876985176348-432: The claims were a distortion of history. The film received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes 's score is 88% based on 145 reviews. The site's Critics' Consensus states, "Visually beautiful and well-acted, Rabbit-Proof Fence tells a compelling true-life story". On Metacritic the film has a score of 80 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". David Stratton of SBS awarded
377-455: The communities comprise families with continuous links to country that extend before the European settlement of Australia . The governments of Australia and Western Australia have supported and funded these communities in a number of ways for over 40 years; prior to that Indigenous people were non citizens with no rights, forced to work for sustenance on stations as European settlers divided up
406-464: The communities was questioned in Western Australian and Australian political discussions. In 2015 rallies were held across Australia and the world to protest the withdrawal of government support of the communities. A group of Aboriginal protesters set up a camp on Heirisson Island , as "... a place of retreat for all Aboriginal persons who have been and will be forcibly removed by
435-425: The fact that it was based in events that were "demonstrably true" and well-documented. However, the filmmaker said that the film was meant primarily as a drama rather than a political or historical statement. Noyce said, "If drama comes from conflict, there's no greater conflict in Australian history than the conflict between Indigenous Australians and white settlers." The historian Keith Windschuttle also disputed
464-444: The fence for months, just barely escaping capture several times. Neville spreads word that Gracie's mother is waiting for her in the town of Wiluna . The information finds its way to an Aboriginal traveller who "helps" the girls. He tells Gracie about her mother and says they can get to Wiluna by train, causing her to leave the other two girls in an attempt to catch a train to Wiluna. Molly and Daisy soon walk after her and find her at
493-522: The fence, the two sisters return home and go into hiding in the desert with their mother and grandmother. Meanwhile, Neville realizes he can no longer afford the search for Molly and Daisy, and decides to end it. The film's epilogue shows recent footage of Molly and Daisy. Molly explains that Gracie died before she could ever return to Jigalong. Molly says that she had two daughters. She and they were taken from Jigalong back to Moore River. She managed to escape with one daughter, her young Annabelle. She carried
522-455: The film's depiction of events. In his work The Fabrication of Aboriginal History , he wrote that Molly and the two other girls had been removed for their own welfare, and that the two older girls had been sexually involved with white men. Noyce and Olsen rejected these criticisms, stating that Windschuttle's research was incomplete. Pilkington Garimara denied Windschuttle's claims of sexual activity between her mother and local whites, stating that
551-599: The generations, so that eventually the Aboriginal "blood" would diminish in society. The three girls are forcibly taken from their families at Jigalong by a local constable, Riggs. They were sent to the camp at the Moore River Native Settlement , in the south west, about 90 km (55 miles) north of Perth. While at the camp, the girls are housed in a large dormitory with dozens of other children, where they are strictly regimented by nuns. They are prohibited from speaking their native language, forced to pray as Christians, and subject to corporal punishment for any infractions of
580-529: The girl much of the way along the length of the fence back home. However, when Annabelle was three years old, she was taken away once more. Molly never saw her again. In closing, Molly says that she and Daisy "... are never going back to that place". The film is adapted from the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence , by Doris Pilkington Garimara , an Aboriginal Australian. It is the second book of her trilogy documenting her family's stories. The other two books are Caprice: A Stockman’s Daughter (1991) and Under
609-405: The historical accuracy of the film. Bolt criticised the numerous disparities between the film and Pilkington Garimara's novel. This angered the author, who said that Bolt had misquoted her. The academic Robert Manne in turn accused Bolt of historical denialism. Screenwriter Christine Olsen wrote a detailed response to Bolt's claims. Olsen attributed the angry response among some of the public to
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#1732876985176638-647: The northern part of one of the fences making up Australia 's rabbit-proof fence (called Number One Fence), which runs for over one thousand miles. More than a thousand miles away in Perth , the official Protector of Western Australian Aborigines , A. O. Neville (called Mr. Devil by them), signs an order to relocate the three girls to the Moore River Native Settlement. The children are referred to by Neville as " half-castes ", because they each have Aboriginal mothers and white fathers. Neville had concluded that
667-411: The official child removal policy that existed in Australia between approximately 1905 and 1967. Its victims, who were taken from their families, now are called the " Stolen Generations ". The soundtrack to the film, called Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence , is by English singer and songwriter Peter Gabriel . British producer Jeremy Thomas , who has a long connection with Australia,
696-442: The twentieth century, mixed-race Aboriginal children were often removed from their families and sent to distant camps, ostensibly for education and assimilation into European Australian life. Among them were sisters Molly Craig and Daisy of Jigalong, and their cousin Gracie. They were sent to the Moore River Native Settlement . Their escape from there, and the sisters' successful 1,600-kilometre (990 mi) trek back to Jigalong
725-552: The western edge of the Little Sandy Desert . The traditional owners of the land are the Martu people , represented by the Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation . The 2016 Australian census recorded the population of Jigalong as 333 people, of whom 87% were Aboriginal . The Jigalong Remote Community School provides education from kindergarten to Year 12 level, with six teachers for
754-777: Was described in the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence , by Molly's daughter Doris Pilkington Garimara . She has written a trilogy about her family. In 2002, Garimara's book was adapted as a film, Rabbit-Proof Fence , directed by Phillip Noyce . The film's world premiere was held in Jigalong. It received a positive reception for its portrayal of the Stolen Generations , as such children were called. Aboriginal communities in Western Australia Aboriginal communities in Western Australia are communities for Aboriginal Australians within their ancestral country ;
783-547: Was established in 1907, as the location for a maintenance and rations store for workmen constructing the rabbit-proof fence . In the 1930s, it was used as a camel -breeding site, but this use was abandoned once the motor car superseded the camel as a mode of transport in the area. In 1947, the land was granted to the Apostolic Church , which used it as a Christian mission . It developed the Aboriginal community. The land
812-602: Was executive producer of the film. He sold it internationally through his company HanWay Films . In 2005 the British Film Institute included this film in the BFI list of the "50 films one should see by the age of 14." In 1931, two sisters – 14-year-old Molly and 8-year-old Daisy – and their 10-year-old cousin Gracie are living in the Western Australian town of Jigalong . The town lies along
841-549: Was returned to the Australian government in 1969 as an Aboriginal reserve . It was granted to the Martu people in 1974. The community is covered by the registered Nyiyaparli Title claim (WC05/6). Jigalong Layout Plan No.2 was prepared in accordance with State Planning Policy 3.2 Aboriginal Settlements. It was endorsed by the community in 2005 and the Western Australian Planning Commission in 2006. In
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