Analysis Of Follow The Rabbit-Proof Fence

In 1788, the British fleet invaded the Australian borders. The British brought over foreign

clothes, animals and laws. The British concept of civilization also extended to the Aboriginal

people that they encountered. They found the Indigenous ways too backwards and their skin

color too drastic in order to function in this new colony. Therefore, the British began enforcing

their laws to replace the traditional Aboriginal laws and customs which irrevocably damaged the

local customs and culture. Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence details three half-caste girls’ journey

and also shows the breakdown of the Aboriginal culture. The Aboriginal people were subject to

the laws but not protected by them. For example, they were not safe from rape

At this point in time there is no guarantee that the Aboriginal culture will survive

the test of time as the future of Australia goes on. The laws that replaced the Aboriginal

traditions have permanently damaged the culture of the Indigenous people.

In Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, the major portion of the story is about the resilience of

three young half-caste aboriginal girls who were taken from their families by white men and

their laws. “The white settlers were a protected species, they were safe with their own laws and

had police and soldiers to enforce these rules” (Pilkington 15). When the British brought their

laws over to Australia, they assumed it would be necessary to enforce it throughout the land they

claimed, and over the Aboriginal people. However, the people that they now were forcing into a

stiff new rule were not meant to be put down by laws that they did not make up themselves. The

British were more technologically advanced with their modern communication and guns, which

made it easier to oppress those without. In this sense the traditional laws of the aboriginal people

were overruled not only by the new white laws, but also their developing

“You girls can’t talk that blackfulla language here, you

know…You gotta forget it and talk English all the time” (Pilkington 72).

Michel Foucault pointed out that we are “subjects of the state”. When applied to this book,

Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence presents Molly, Gracie and Daisy who are victims of the

discourses and circumstances that force an unknown culture upon innocents.

The Stolen Generations is the name given to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

children taken away, forcibly removed or made wards of the state by the adaptation policies of

the new governments of Australia. The practice of removing Aboriginal children from their

families began in the first days of the colony, but the process intensified at the end of the

nineteenth century and became official government policy in all states of Australia in the

twentieth century. Continuing on into recent years, the impact of the Stolen Generations on

families has caused sorrow and confusion. Doris Pilkington wrote in the end of the book that her

mother’s youngest daughter Annabelle was taken when she was a baby, and had not been