The West Australian Jan 26, 2002 Proud look back at long walk to freedom
By Yonnene Pearce MOLLY KELLY describes her remarkable survival in simple terms. "Oh my," says the 84-year-old, when asked about the 2000km trek she took seven decades ago - from the Moore River native settlement back to her family in the Pilbara. "Gee, it was a long way." The journey, chronicled by her daughter, Doris Pilkington, in her book Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence, is about to hit the big screen. A film to be released nationally next month tells the true story of how three young Aboriginal girls made their way back to the Pilbara. They had been taken in the 1930s from the Jigalong community, east of Newman, to the Moore River settlement under the government policy of the day. Mrs Kelly, then 14, escaped with her sister, Daisy Craig, 8, and her cousin, Gracie Fields, 10, after just one night at the settlement. The other girls followed Molly's lead. "When they asked how they were going to get home, she said, "We are going to have to find the rabbit-proof fence'," Mrs Pilkington said. "To me that was a very powerful statement because it showed strength and certainty." The No. 1 rabbit-proof fence ran 1833km from west of Esperance to north of Port Hedland. It was believed to be the longest fence in the world when completed in 1907. Molly knew of the landmark because her grandfather was a fence inspector. "At night, they slept in bushes and made camp fires because it was freezing cold," Mrs Pilkington said. "They would bury the ashes in the morning and because it was raining the tracker couldn't pick their tracks, which gave them a jump start. "In front, they had the love of a mother and behind them was the fear of being caught by a tracker on horseback who would whip them and take them back to the settlement to be punished and locked up in a boob (a solitary cell)." The author and her family will leave Perth today to travel to Jigalong for the Australian premiere of the film on Monday. Her granddaughter and great-grandson have travelled from Alaska for the event. Molly Kelly, 84, and Daisy Kadibil, 78, still live at Jigalong. While Karratha station appears in the film, most of the Phillip Noyce-directed movie was shot in South Australia's Flinders Ranges. Laura Monaghan, 10, of South Hedland, and Everlyn Sampi, 13, of Broome, star with Kenneth Branagh. © 2001 West Australian Newspapers Limited http://www.thewest.com.au/20020126/news/state/tw-news-state-home-sto41830.html -- --------------------------------------------------------- "A terrorist is somebody who is prepared to kill innocent people to further a particular political objective." -Senator Robert Hill --------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/ until 11 March, 2001 and Recoznettwo is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznettwo%40green.net.au/ from that date. This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
