(2002)

Submitted by Joseph C

Western Australia 1931
For 100 years the Aboriginal Peoples have resisted the invasion of their lands by white settlers.
Now, a special law, the Aborigines Act, controls their lives in every detail.
Mr. A. O. Neville, the Chief Protector of Aborigines, is the legal guardian of every Aborigine in the State of Western Australia.
He has the power “to remove any half-caste child” from their family, from anywhere within the state.

Sisters Molly and Daisy and their cousin Gracie are ordered removed from their family and taken to the Moore River compound. This is about 1500 kilometres from home. Molly, the oldest, decides that they will go home on their own. They escape from the compound and head north with no clear idea how to get home. A kind lady who gives them food mentions to be careful along the rabbit proof fence. This is a 2000 mile long fence that runs across Australia from north to south to keep rabbits from spreading. Molly knows that their home, Jigalong, is along the northern end of the fence. If they get to the fence and follow it north, it will eventually lead them home. Mr. Neville sends out trackers and police after them. Molly had been trained to track prey growing up. She knows how to hide their tracks and avoid the trackers.

They meet a man who says he heard their mothers have come to Wiluna looking for them. Molly distrusts the man, and continues north with Daisy. Gracie believes him and heads to Wiluna. Molly and Daisy go back for
Gracie. The dishonest man shows up with police to capture Gracie. Gracie starts running back to Molly, but then turns and runs the other way, sacrificing herself so Molly and Daisy will not be seen. (In the narration, Molly mentions Gracie was returned to Moore River, and they never saw her again.) Molly and Daisy reach Jigalong and reunite with their family.

In the narration, Molly relates how they had to lie hidden in the outback for a long time. Molly married and had a child. She was again sent to Moore River with her child. She escaped again, and made the long walk home a second time carrying her infant the whole way.

At the end, we see the real Molly and Daisy as elderly ladies.