28 Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence

Doris Pilkington Garimara’s novel Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence spoke to me as it reflects the experience of so many Aboriginal families, including my own family.  As with the young girls in the novel, Molly, Daisy and Gracie, my Nanny, Alice Isobel Nannup, was part of the Stolen Generation. She was born on Abydos Station, in the west of the Pilbara, and was taken from her Mum at the age of 12, under the pretence of going to Perth to receive an education.  Instead, she was placed in domestic service which was, in reality, slavery.  Between ‘jobs’, Nanny was sent to the Moore River settlement.  Nan never saw her Mum again.

Taking Nanny back to Moore River settlement many years later with my Mum and Aunties was a hard-hitting and emotional experience.  The abandoned buildings and empty land screamed of desolation and despair.

The girls in the novel escaped from the settlement and walked around 1600 km, following the rabbit-proof fence that runs through parts of the state. The country they traversed is harsh – in summer, the heat saps your energy while the winter cold chills you to your bones.  The land is unforgiving,  unrelenting and formidable.  On our travels through parts of this area I recall saying to my young daughters, ‘Can you imagine travelling through this country when there was nothing around?  It would have been daunting’.

These brave young girls, Molly, Daisy, and Gracie, did just that.  On foot, guided by a fence, the stars, and an overwhelming desire to get home.

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Biography

Nicole Rawson-Harris is a Yinjibarndi Wadjuk Noongar woman from Western Australia.  Nicole is a Marine Biologist who studied at James Cook University, Townsville.  She has considerable experience in marine and coastal planning and management, having worked at the Commonwealth level for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and at the state level with the QLD Dept of Environment and Heritage and the Environmental  Protection Agency. A growing desire to use her skills to provide positive outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples brought her to the University of Queensland, where she worked in the Office of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) on UQ’s Reconciliation Action Plan. She is now leading Healthy Land and Waters QLD’s Reconciliation Action Plan, as Lead, Indigenous Advancement.