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Nugi Garimara 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, Doris 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/video production. Caprice: A Stockman’s Daughter, originally published in 1991, is her first book and won the 1990 David Unaipon National 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. Doris’s own story is told in Under the Wintamarra Tree (UQP, 2002). In 2002 she was appointed Co-Patron of State and Federal Sorry Day Committees’ Journey of Healing.
Acclaim for Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence:“An adventure of great cleverness and courage. To take the journey is to understand something of the scars on the Australian soul.”Tony Stephens, Age“A vividly told story about cultural arrogance, cruelty and courage.”Ian McFarlane, Canberra Sunday Times“This book is almost unbearable to read, and yet is still compulsive.”Juliette Hughes, Eureka Street“Uncontrived and unadorned, Pilkington’s story is genuinely moving.”Debra Adelaide, Sydney Morning HeraldComments on the film “Rabbit-Proof Fence”:“It’s about the importance of love. About having a heart. About the real people behind the policies and statistics. It’s about giving them names, telling their stories. That’s what Doris Pilkington Garimara had in mind when she wrote down the story of her mother Molly on which the film is based.”Susie Eisenhuth, Bulletin“A lot of people still don’t quite understand the emotions, such as the traumas that one experiences when they are taken away from their parents—the separation and the injustice that occurred back in the 1930s. People who watch this movie will walk away changed more than they may realise.”Cathy Freeman, Courier-Mail“I hope the film will encourage us to reclaim that part of our history for ourselves. It’s only by coming to terms with the past, that you can go ahead into the future.”Phillip Noyce, Director of “Rabbit-Proof Fence”“I could not have written the script without Doris. Without her, it would have been a real outsider’s view.”Christine Olsen, Author of “Rabbit-Proof Fence” filmscript“Sorry, Molly. Sorry, Daisy. Sorry that a book and a movie, inspired by injustice and your bravery, have taken so long to be acknowledged.”Skye Yates, Daily Telegraph
To all of my mother’s and aunty’s children and their descendants for inspiration, encouragement and determination.
Acknowledgments
Map revised 2002
Introduction
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 of Mardujara words
References
Black Australian Writing Series
The bunya pine in the UQP Black Australian Writing logo represents the age-old east coast Bunya Bunya event where Indigenous nations gathered to celebrate and feast on the bunya nut harvest with a festival of games, music and dance, and the exchange of information and ideas.
Copyright
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