Plot Summary
Rabbit-Proof Fence tells the story of three Australian Aboriginal girls – Molly Craig, Gracie Fields and Daisy Karnpill Craig – and their dramatic escape and walk home from the Moore River Native Settlement in the year 1931.
At the start of the film, we see Molly, Gracie and Daisy hunting with their mothers in Jigalong, the remote area in which they live. We then see A.O Neville, the Chief Protector of the Aboriginals in Western Australia. He believes that removing children of mixed European/Aboriginal heritage from their families is good for them.
At the start of the film, we see Molly, Gracie and Daisy hunting with their mothers in Jigalong, the remote area in which they live. We then see A.O Neville, the Chief Protector of the Aboriginals in Western Australia. He believes that removing children of mixed European/Aboriginal heritage from their families is good for them.
A.O. Neville orders the local policeman, Constable Riggs, to capture Molly, Gracie and Daisy, who have European fathers. Riggs captures the girls one afternoon and sends them to the Moore River Native Settlement. At Moore River, the girls are trained to talk and act like white Australians. Children at Moore River are not allowed to speak their language or practice their customs and culture. Instead they must speak English, learn Christianity and other European practices. Molly, Gracie and Daisy enter a scary new world. They are unsure of how to behave and face severe punishment for breaking the rules.
Molly, the oldest of the three girls, organises to escape from Moore River with her sister and cousin. The girls head north and, after getting some information from a woman who feeds them, are able to find the rabbit-proof fence which Molly knows will lead them home. The girls must walk 1,500 miles (2414km) through difficult conditions. The girls are chased by Modoo, an Aboriginal Australian tracker, and by Constable Riggs. The girls meet a collection of strangers along the way who provide food as well as advice – both good and bad. Some of this advice convinces Gracie to stop walking and results in her re-capture.
Molly, the oldest of the three girls, organises to escape from Moore River with her sister and cousin. The girls head north and, after getting some information from a woman who feeds them, are able to find the rabbit-proof fence which Molly knows will lead them home. The girls must walk 1,500 miles (2414km) through difficult conditions. The girls are chased by Modoo, an Aboriginal Australian tracker, and by Constable Riggs. The girls meet a collection of strangers along the way who provide food as well as advice – both good and bad. Some of this advice convinces Gracie to stop walking and results in her re-capture.
As Molly and Daisy near home, the rabbit-proof fence stops and they find themselves in the extreme desert and they collapse from exhaustion. At the same time, women in their community in Jigalong are chanting and sending them strength. When the girls wake up in the desert, the spirit bird appears, and they find the strength to walk the rest of the way home. When they arrive, they must immediately hide so that they are not recaptured. The film ends with images of the real-life Molly and Daisy walking in Jigalong. They say they will never go back to ‘that place’ – Moore River.