Rabbit Proof Fence Samantha Wallace

About the Film This film was directed in 2002 by Phillip Noyce. It was set in 1931 in the Western Australian outback. It is based on a true story and a novel written by one of the characters actual daughter.

Storyline of the Film The three main characters Molly, Gracie and Daisy were all half caste children that were taken 2000 km away from their family, friends and home. They were made to learn the white way in order to try and breed out the Aboriginal race. The children were determined to go home so ran away following the rabbit proof fence all the way home. However, along the way Gracie got caught by falling into the trap set up by the white people that were trying to get them back and track them down.

Stolen Generations The stolen generations involved Government Agencies forcibly removing aboriginal children from their families and homes and placing them in institutions or being adopted particularly the half caste children out to non-Indigenous families. They did this so that they could try and breed out the aboriginal race, culture and language using the policy of assimilation.

Primary Source The Assimilation Policy is an example of a primary source that supports the events expressed throughout the film.

Historical Debate The debate is over the historical accuracy of the film, Rabbit Proof Fence, and these were made in late 2009 and early 2010. The main historian behind this debate is a man by the name of Keith Windschuttle. He has evidence to suggest that some of the events that took place in this film did not actually occur in reality.

Keith Windschuttle He is a writer, historian and former ABC board member. He has a specific focus on the Australian history including that of the Aboriginal people. He has written his own series of books called ‘The Fabrication of Aboriginal History’.

Secondary Source This series of books are secondary sources based on the event of the stolen generations which is highlighted in the film. This includes ‘The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, Volume Three, The Stolen Generations 1881-2008’

Primary Source In 1997 the Australian Human Rights Commission created the Bringing Them Home Report which showed the devastating affects of the removal policies causing the stolen generations.

Andrew Bolt Andrew Bolt is another man that sides with Keith Windschuttle in disagreeing with the stolen generations. He makes a strong contrast to this film by stating that children were not removed because of purely racial reasons but for other reasons.

Bibliography http://www.stolengenerations.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=226&Itemid=169 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/rabbit-proof-fence-grossly-inaccurate-says-keith-windschuttle/story-e6frg6n6-1225809998531 http://www.theguardian.com/film/australia-culture-blog/2013/dec/20/rabbit-proof-fence-rewatching-classic-australian-films http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit-Proof_Fence_%28film%29 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252444/ http://reconciliaction.org.au/nsw/education-kit/stolen-generations/ http://www.nsdc.org.au/stolen-generations/history-of-the-stolen-generations/the-history-of-the-stolen-generations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Windschuttle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bolt