Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

A Stolen Generations story of astounding courage: three Aboriginal girls, taken from their mothers, escape barefoot back to their beloved homeland in East Pilbara. This is the true account of Nugi Garimara’ s mother, Molly, made legendary by the film Rabbit-Proof Fence. In 1931 Molly led her two sisters on an extraordinary 1600-kilometre walk across remote Western Australia. Aged eight, eleven and fourteen, they escaped the confinement of a government institution for Aboriginal children removed from their families. Barefoot, without provisions or maps, tracked by Native Police and search planes, the girls followed the rabbit-proof fence, knowing it would lead them home. Their journey – longer than many of the celebrated treks of recognised explorers – reveals a past more cruel than we could ever imagine.

Introduction by Tara June Winch Map Introduction by Nugi Garimara 1 The First Military Post 2 The Swan River Colony 3 The Decline of Aboriginal Society 4 From the Deserts They Came 5 Jigalong, 1907– 1931 6 The Journey South 7 The Moore River Native Settlement, 1931 8 The Escape 9 What Happened to Them? Where Are They Now? Glossary Acknowledgements References