Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

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.

Source: https://www.uqp.com.au/books/follow-the-rabbit-proof-fence-first-nations-classic 

Keywords/Themes

Forced assimilation, Australia, Aboriginal culture/traditions/language, oppression, resilience, Australian Outback, family, traditional hunting and gathering, identity, colonialism, spirituality, connection to the land, historical injustice, resilience.

Book Review & Recommended Use in Classroom 

Very compelling account of the escape and adventure of three Aboriginal girls. The struggle to survive is described in a way that makes the reader not want to put the book down. Aboriginal culture, traditions, spirituality as well as the language is described and used so much that one gets a very good understanding of the Aboriginal way of life. The girls' experiences of forced assimilation by government officials are told in a way that gives the reader a good picture of what happened back then. The actual adventure/escape story doesn't start until chapter 8, The Escape. Before that the chapters contain information on the history of Aboriginal and white people in Australia. I would let students read the book beginning with chapter 6, The Journey South. It provides context for the actual escape story. I would:

• summarize chapters 1-4 and talk to students about the history of Aboriginal and white people in Australia
• use history, maps and photographs to set the scene of the story and the context 

The film could be watched and compared to the book. 

The version of the book should be chosen wisely. I first read an abridged version, which was so shortened and dumbed down that I would not use it in class. The unabridged book, however, is a great read.

(Miriam O., May 2025)

Sensitive Content

Violence (e.g. sounds of children being physically punished) and the scenes when children are being taken from their families to put in residential schools may be unsettling.

About the Author

Nugi Garimara AM (1937–2014) is Doris Pilkington’s Aboriginal name. She was born on Balfour Downs Station in the East Pilbara. As a toddler she was removed by authorities from her home at the station, along with her mother Molly Craig and baby sister Anna, and committed to Moore River Native Settlement. This was the same institution Molly had escaped from ten years previously, the account of which is told in Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence.

At eighteen, Nugi left the mission system as the first of its members to qualify for the Royal Perth Hospital’s nursing aide training program. Following marriage and a family, she studied journalism and worked in film and video production. Caprice: A Stockman’s Daughter, originally published in 1991, was her first book and won the 1990 David Unaipon Award. Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence was first published in 1996 and was released internationally in 2002 as the film Rabbit-Proof Fence, directed by Phillip Noyce. Nugi’s own story is told in Under the Wintamarra Tree (UQP, 2002).

Source: https://www.uqp.com.au/books/follow-the-rabbit-proof-fence-first-nations-classic