Rabbit-Proof Fence, a great film educating people about the horrible event that was the Stolen Generation. They took many things from the indigenous Australians like freedom, culture and innocence. Here are some examples of this during the film.
Freedom was stolen from the Indigenous Australians during the Stolen Generation. In the movie ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ Molly, Gracie and daisy were stripped from their families and taken to a camp with other half cast children (like themselves). They are forced to live the lives of white people and their freedom is just taken away. They can no longer go hunting, talk their language or even have their own mother. This is extremely cruel and just unfair to take away their freedom as easy as that.
The Stolen
Since the European settlement of Australia, the Indigenous people have been represented in a myriad of ways. The Rabbits (1998), an allegorical picture book by John Marsden (writer) and Shaun Tan (illustrator) and Rabbit Proof Fence (2002), a film directed by Phillip Noyce, are just two examples of this. Techniques such as music, changing camera angles and symbolism are utilised in Rabbit Proof Fence to represent the Aboriginal people as strong-willed and spiritual and in The Rabbits, exaggeration, different colour themes and perspective are used to portray the Aborigines as technologically inferior and overwhelmed against the Europeans. In both texts, the Indigenous people are represented as
The Stolen Generation has had a great effect on Aboriginal rights and freedoms as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders didn’t even have the rights to raise and look after their children and as a result 100,000 Aboriginal Australian’s were displaced and placed into white families. The lack of understanding and respect for Aboriginal culture also meant that many people who supported the removal of these children really thought they were doing “the right thing”. The impact on Australian life today is still being felt as the Stolen Generation is seen as a recent event has it only ended in the early 1970s. Children that where taken away back then now cannot trace back their roots and therefore have no record of their family history or where
Australian people and culture are often stereotyped in the media in different forms, one of them being film. The two films being examined, ‘Red dog’ (2011) and the ‘Sapphires’ (2012), are an example of the Australian identity but from different points of view. ‘Red dog’ shows the kind and positive side which exemplifies mateship and loyalty. The film ‘Sapphires’ ,which takes place in the 1950’s through to the 1960’s, shows a negative and racist view towards the indigenous people. Both the films show different aspects of the Australian identity, not all insights of the films accurately represent contemporary Australian identity as the Australian identity has changed by the evolution of people and their lifestyle.
Good afternoon and welcome to the inaugural Australia Day Film Festival: a celebration showcasing the growth and recognition of Australian cinema through industry workshops and discussion opportunities. It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you Bran Nue Dae and Rabbit Proof Fence. Although separated by years, these two successful films explicitly address Indigenous issues with
In comparison to the white people’s rights, the Aboriginals had next to little or no rights. Charles had the desire to make a change in the world and therefore created the Freedom Ride in 1965. The Freedom Ride consisted of thirty white students from university who planned to take a bus and travel New South Wales. During this journey, they intended to investigate the living conditions of Indigenous people in all aspects of life: health, education and housing. They wanted to study the different races and their interactions with each other in Australia, and the level of racism and protest against it. They travelled to the town of Dubbo, where Aboriginal people were locked up for singing in their language. In theatres in Walgett, the black people were seated in the front, while the white people had the privilege to enjoy from the top seats. If the black people were to sit in the whites’ allocated spots, they were tossed down and the police were called. In Moree, Indigenous people were restricted from using local pools and in Bowraville, segregation was the norm. While the Freedom Riders travelled to these places, they were mistreated. In Moree for example, the female students of the Freedom Ride were spat on and Charles Perkins himself had an egg thrown at him, and was punched. Despite such difficulties, they
the incessant brutality of racism in the 1920s. Rolf de Heer’s 2002 art house feature film The Tracker, represents one of the most “unspeakable aspects of Australian history” (Smaill, 2002, 31), explicitly depicting the extreme racism, violence and inhumanity the egotistical European invaders inflicted on Aboriginals, whilst at the same time glorifies and treasures aboriginal culture and intelligence through film.
The recent Australian film, Rabbit Proof Fence, similarly condemns the social, political and cultural mores of colonial and post-colonial Australia in relation to its past treatment of indigenous Australians. Like To Kill a Mockingbird, it too, is set in the 1930’s and reflects similar attitudes and values whites have to black people. The film is a true story based on the book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, the daughter of one of the half-caste children in the film who, together with two other Aboriginal girls, was forcibly removed from her family in Jigalong, Western Australia. These children form part of what is now known as the “Stolen Generation”. They, like many others who lived in the first part of the 20th century, were the victims of the official government assimilationist policy which decreed that half-caste children should be taken from their families and their land in order to be made “white”. The policy was definitely aimed at “breeding out” Aboriginality, because only half and quarter caste children were taken.
‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ was the story of a 3 young Aboriginal girls who were taken from their homes because they were ‘half castes’ and then their long walk home following the rabbit proof fence. The idea of the government taking children from their homes and placing them into the care of white people in the hope of them losing their cultural beliefs was stronger. This idea of them being changed was evident with quotes such as “This is your new home. We don't use that jabber here. You speak English” providing the idea of whites being dominant through their values.
This is where assimilation comes into play I believe. Aboriginal people were expected to give up their own culture and traditions and adopt the Western way of living, with the expectation that they would all assimilate (Stanley et al. 2002). This was further developed as a formal government policy in 1951 (Gerrer 2013). I believe what really triggered my outrage was what happened to the children when they were taken away. It was shown to us in class that most children were not put into better households, with a better support system. In fact they were made to be white peoples slaves, with some cases of sexual abuse and other terrible acts of sinfulness (Lousy Little Sixpence 1983). These Aboriginal families were told a lie that their children would be sent off to gain an education but instead were not aware in actually their innocent children where soon to become the slaves of a rich Caucasian families, with no where to escape (Lousy Little Sixpence 1983). I feel as if I’ve been fed false information about the history of the country I live in.
For my first event I took a friend to a movie night hosted by the Notre Dame Student Association and students from the Aboriginal People unit. They organised a free viewing a movie by John Pilger called Utopia and a follow up survey. This extraordinary film gives a deep insight into the First Australians struggles of harsh dispossession and the ongoing deaths and poverty. Pilger puts the hard word on many members of the Australian government who are responsible for many deaths, explorations, betrayals and breaches to Aboriginal peoples human rights. This film was very moving and had a great impact on myself who had already studied a lot of this content but seeing it again in a different way opened my eyes even more to the sadness and grief suffered by Aboriginal people due to discrimination and lack of justice. As for my friend she was greatly saddened and shocked by what she has seen. Coming from a very English background she expressed feeling somewhat guilty about what had happened and how disappointed she was in the Australian government on this matter. The movie inspired a lengthy conversation about the importance of righting past wrongs for Aboriginal people and spreading awareness to her family and friends. It was also interesting to discover that when moving to Australian from England in 2010 that she had noticed a great deal of racism towards
The rights and freedoms of Aboriginals have improved drastically since 1945 with many changes to government policy, cultural views and legal rules to bring about a change from oppression to equality. Unfortunately on the other hand, some rights and freedoms have not improved at all or have even worsened.
The Stolen Generation has left devastating impacts upon the Aboriginal culture and heritage, Australian history and the presence of equality experienced today. The ‘Stolen Generation’ refers to the children of Aboriginal descent being forcefully abducted by government officials of Australia and placed within institutions and catholic orphanages, being forced to assimilate into ‘white society’. These dehumanising acts placed these stolen children to experience desecration of culture, loss of identity and the extinction of their race. The destructive consequences that followed were effects of corruption including attempted suicide, depression and drug and alcohol abuse. The indigenous peoples affected by this have endured solitude for many
In Western culture we are born with the right of autonomy. It is believed that this right can never be taken away from us. We are born into this privilege of liberty and are given opportunities to grow and make our own choices without being oppressed or discouraged for them. We are free, or so we think we are. In the book Slave My True Story by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis (2003), Mende a 12 year old girl, is stripped of her happiness, childhood and most of all, her freedom.
Australia has always been centered around diversity and change, specifically with the vast multiculturalism and migrant culture throughout the nation. The specifics of Identity hold an important role in shaping our identity as students and as a nation. Australians pride themselves on being a land of the free and full of diverse culture. This is specifically referred to in our national Anthem; “For those who've come across the seas, We've boundless plains to share; With courage let us all combine,”(McCormick, 1984). Displaying Australia’s open attitude towards immigrants and contributes to the diversity present within our society today. Even before this, much of Australia’s Identity was associated with caucasian culture (Originating from British Settlers). Which is the dominant perception of Australia through the media with australian representation being present through the stereotypes of Bogans, which was made popular through shows like Kath and Kim (ABC, 2007). Also, represented through the popular depiction of Australian people - the bushman made popular by movies like Crocodile Dundee (Faiman, 1986) and through famous real life bushman; Steve Irwin. An important aspect of Australian identity which is consistently neglected is the culture and representation of the initial owners of the land; the aboriginal people. Throughout history the constant mistreatment and neglect of the indigenous, has lead to a massive gap in privilege between the aboriginal people and our
‘The Sapphires’ by Wayne Blair was the trigger that led my research into the effects of the Stolen Generation on Aboriginals in Australia. This film is about an Aboriginal singing group who want to make a name for themselves, but find it difficult because of the racism against them. This film also tells the stories of their cousin Kay, who was a half-caste and was stolen from her Aboriginal family at a young age to be taught the ways of white people, and forget her culture. This film made me realise that I am lucky to live in a country where racism of such an extent in which children are stolen from their indigenous families, isn’t part of our history, and has not affected me personally. From my research, I have found six main sources that have helped me to understand how large this problem was and continues to be. My sources: ‘The Sapphires’ by Wayne Blair; a film about a group of Aboriginal singers who are affected by racism which is based on a real life singing group; ‘The Sorry Speech’, by Kevin Rudd who was the Prime Minister of Australia in 2008 who explains the damage and apologises for the way that the actions of past governments tore apart the lives of their indigenous people. Then there is ‘Blind Eye,’ the documentary in which people who were stolen are interviewed and tell their stories. The film, ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ this tells the story of two girls who were stolen and gives us insight into how brutally that they were treated after being ripped apart from