Spirit+Bird

= The Rabbit Proof Fence  =

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Come and join our discussion! = ﻿ Team Spirit Bird: Emerald,Lauren, Michael and Bailey! =

= Mikes Questions = = ﻿THE START OF THE FILM: =

__The film begins with background information, powerful music and what appear to be abstract images.__

 * How do the filmmakers begin the film and engage us to the story?
 * The filmmakers start the film with facts about the Aborigines - //"For 100 years, the Aboriginal peoples have resisted the invasion of their lands by white settlers." "Now a special law controls their lives".// Facts also come up on the screen about Mr Neville, a baddie who stole halfe-castes (half white, half Aboriginal) from their families. There is powerful music in the background as Molly talks (as a grown up).**


 * When the film begins, what do you think you are seeing at first?
 * When the film begins, we think we are seeing Aboriginal dot art. But as the film goes on, we find out it isnt aboriginal dot art, but many trees.**


 * What impressions do you gain of life in the desert Aboriginal community?\
 * Life was hard in the Aboriginal community. The women went out to hunt for food, the men had moved on. They lived in stick houses. Their land was dry.**


 * Very early in the film, we see the eagle, Molly's totem, her spirit bird. Her mother tells her the eagle will look after her. When does the bird appear again in the film and why?
 * The bird appears again at the end of the film. Molly is exsausted after a very long walk. She faints, wakes up and the spirit bird is there, flying around her. Molly knows that she has to carry on, she is almost there.**

__The first image of Constable Riggs makes him appear huge. The camera pans from his boots up.\__
 * What impressions do you get of the role of the policemen in the community?
 * You think the policemen are baddies, because the movie is from the Aboriginal peoples point of view. The policemen would steal halfe-casts from their families and send them to the Moore River Native Settlement. This was a very bad place, the Aboriginals didnt deserve to go there.**
 * How do we know that Aboriginal people fear the police?
 * Molly has to hide her kids because her relatives saw them, and this shows that they were afraid. Also when the police car comes to pick them up, they know its the police and start running as fast as they can, showing they are very scared.**
 * By the end of the film, have your impressions of the police changed? Why/Why not?
 * The impressions on the police hadn't really changed by the end of the movie. They still wanted halfe-casts.**
 * Although Neville said at the end of the movie, "If only they knew what good we were doing to them".**

= Bailey's Question =

__Mr. Neville, the Chief Protector of Aborigines__

Mr. A.O. Neville uses many words and phrases to justify taking the girls away. Some of them include: ‘unwanted third race’; ‘advance to white status’; ‘in spite of himself, the native must be helped’; ‘they are our “special responsibility”’, etc.

· Imagine years later Molly meets with Neville and has a chance to answer these justifications.

Neville: You should have been happy about your advance to white status.

Molly: White status? We were not raised to white status we were raised to the status of the dirt underneath a white man’s boot.

Neville: We wanted you to become white not stay as a third unwanted devil race.

Molly: We are wanted by our families and people and we want to be what we are not you white devil ghosts.

Neville: It was my duty to help you.

Molly: Well then you neglected your duty because you made our life worse that is not helping. You should have fed us but done nothing else because we can look after ourselves.

· Write the different reactions these people would have to Neville’s views on the treatment of Aborigines he calls ‘half caste’ or ‘quadroon’.

a) One of the women listening to his explanations in 1931.

They would have agreed with him because his views were what was accepted at the time.

b) One of the mothers trying to make contact with their children.

They would have been angry at these meager explanations and hate his views because they were so racist and elitist.

c) Molly’s mother.

Molly’s mother would have been so racked with grief at first she would hate everything and this would not change over time.

d) Members of your class watching the film.

They would believe it is wrong and also funny that anyone thought that.

e) Government policy makers today.

Government policy makers would see how flawed all of his justifications are and would strongly disagree with his policies no matter which end of the left wing/right wing spectrum they sat.

· Why would some people today say that Neville’s policies were racist?

They would say this because the policies were elitist against Aboriginals.

· What were his policies and official duties?

His main policy was to take half caste children away from their home. His duties were to help the Aboriginals.

· Why was he implementing a policy of removing half caste children?

So that he could make them white (breed aboriginal culture out of them), and eliminate the ‘unwanted’ third race.

· Outline Neville’s attitude towards the girls. Does it change over the course of the film? Give some examples of words and actions that indicate this change.

Neville is indifferent towards them at the start but he starts to dislike them when they escape which only strengthens his feeling that Aboriginals must be made white or else they will become feral. This is proven by him putting out the order for Molly’s child to be taken.

· How would you judge Neville? Can he be seen as a product of his society and its values, or are the decisions he made universally wrong? You might like to consider some of Mr. Neville’s own words when answering this question.

I think Mr. Neville is a product of his society and the values his society valued but this does not make what he did right and I think that makes him universally wrong especially on the count of his job being to help the Aboriginals not make their lives worse.

=__Jigalong Depot__=
 * · Jot down words used to describe Jigalong depot and share your images to form a class description. **

The depot is a dry and dusty desert with a shed in the corner for supplying rations.

· **Why were depots like this established throughout Australia with Aboriginal Protectors?**

The depots were established to help the Aboriginals in their day to day life and the Aboriginal protectors were to do this.


 * · Find out why it was necessary for the government to hand out blankets, tobacco and flour. **

It was necessary because the white people were taking the Aboriginals land but wanted to have good relations which didn’t end as planned.

=__The Escape__= Molly and the girls were well aware of the consequences if they tried to escape and were caught, yet Molly was prepared to take this risk.


 * · What happened to Olive when she was caught? **

When Olive was caught she was flogged (whipped) and her hair was cut off so her boyfriend wouldn’t like her and she would have no reason to escape again.


 * · Why do you think Molly decided she should lead their escape? **

So that she could get the little ones home and protect them from the white men.


 * · Why do you think Gracie was reluctant to go? Why might she have changed her mind? **

Gracie was reluctant because she was scared and thought Moore River was a safer place to be for her.


 * · How is music used in the escape scene to heighten the atmosphere? **

The music conveys how tense the girls are and how scared they are about escaping but also shows how much they want to go home.


 * __The Black Tracker[[image:moodoo.jpg width="241" height="169" align="right" caption="Moodoo the tracker"]]__**


 * · Consider the role of Moodoo, the Aboriginal tracker. Do you think that he could have found the girls if he really wanted to? What reason may he have had for not wanting to find them? **

I think that he could have found the girls but he didn’t because he has a child in the camp so he knows what it is like for them and he wants to give them a chance.


 * · Do you think Moodoo gives up on searching for the girls? Why or why not? **

Yes, I think Moodoo gives up because at first he may not like them for escaping and leaving everyone but then he realizes that they are just like his kid and are scared and just want to go home.

=__Survival on the Journey Home (By Mike)__=
 * How do you think each of the girls might have been feeling after they first escaped?
 * The girls might have been feeling scared when they first escaped because the last time a girl (Olive) tried to escape, she got caught by Moodoo and sent to a little house to be whipped for her wrong-doing.**
 * How would their moods and feelings have changed as the journey continued?
 * They would have felt scared because they were on the run from the police. They might have felt sad as they left Mavis's home, because Mavis was pleading. Molly was very clever along the way. She was aware of her surroundings.**
 * Why would Mr Neville have been so keen to keep news of escape out of the paper?
 * Maybe Neville didnt want people reading the paper and thinking that they escaped from the Settlement, he might have been afraid.**
 * What might have motivated the woman at the farm to give the children clothes and food, but then inform the authorities of their whereabouts?
 * The woman has her own children, she doesnt like them getting hungry, so she gives Molly clothes and food to eat. But shes on Mr Neville's side, so she told them where the children were going.**
 * Molly is not only determined but also is very clever.**
 * Identify the various strategies that she uses to evade capture and enable the girls to survive and pursue their journey to the end.
 * Molly stops at different places for food and clothes to make sure her relatives are safe and not hungry. She steals socks because Daisy has sore feet. She understands that the rain will wash away their footprints. She is aware of her surroundings.**

This is the map of the rabbit proof fence.
 * How would you describe the counrty that the girls had to cross on their journey? use an atlas to help construct your answer to this question.


 * What does this concept mean to Molly? Represent Molly's concept of home either as a drawing or as a poem.

Molly craig walks down the road, Hand in hand with relatives. Only one thing is on her mind, Getting home is what she thinks.

Back to family, Back to home Back to everyone else she knows. Back to her old techniques, Hunting animals, other things.

It is her home that she wants to be that is where her heart belongs. her thought of home keeps her awake watch them as they go.


 * Imagine you are Molly aged about thirty, and the mother of two children. Tell your children what you learnt (life truths and practical skills) from your experiences in 1991.

//Children: YOU ESCAPED FROM THE SETTLEMENT!?!// //Children: TWO WHOLE WEEKS!?//
 * Well children, listen closely, because I am about to tell you one of the worst experiences ive had.**
 * It stated in 1931,That Mr Bonner, he ruined my life. I was known as a halfe-cast to them. They didnt care one bit about what I thought, they just cared about what they thought.**
 * He went out looking for us, straight from when I escaped from the Moore River Settlement.**
 * Yes, children, I did escape. All I was thinking was to get home, so I followed along the Rabbit-Proof Fence to get to Jigalong.**
 * We walked for two weeks -**
 * Yes children, two weeks. Exaustion reached me on my last day, I dont remember what happened, but i woke up and saw my spirit eagle, my totem, flying up above me. I remember my relatives showing it to me before i got taken away, and it was that point when i realised i was nearly there.**
 * I knew the police were after me. I knew they would be at Jigalong when I got there. But i wanted my family so bad that i kept going.**
 * I finally reached my family after a long walk.**
 * The police then got me and i was sent back to the Moore River Native Settlement again. But i didnt care. I just escaped again.**
 * They took my daughter when i was older.**
 * I am never going back to that place again.**
 * And that, my children, is the story of my life in 1931.**

=__Returning to Jigalong__=
 * When Molly and Daisy are reunited with Maude and their other family members, Molly is devastated when she tells them, ‘I lost one, I lost one’.**


 * · Why did Gracie want to run off to Wiluna? **

Because a man working on the fence told them that their mother was there and she could catch a train when she was feeling tired.


 * · Why did the girls subsequently follow her there? **

Because they didn’t want to lose their sister back to the Moore River settlement after they had come so far together.


 * · Why do you think she was caught? **

Gracie was caught because she just sat in the open without hiding where she could easily be seen and her sisters were powerless to help her.


 * The final scenes of the film have a very powerful impact on the viewer.**


 * · Why do you think Riggs withdraws from the women’s camp? **

Riggs withdrew because he was scared and tired and didn’t want them to attack him.


 * · Do you think Neville has changed his views at all? **

No because after this happened he continued to capture “half castes” including Molly’s own daughter.


 * · Write a short storyline describing the sequence of events in the closing scenes of the film. **

The two remaining girls after passing out they wake up and stumble forward then they see Jigalong and they have a renewed burst of energy and run down to their family. They are walking in the bush with their mothers when Riggs appears but he sees the spears and runs away.

Lauren's Questions :D

= __<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #050505; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">﻿After Watching the Film __ =

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #050505; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**Ø Firstly, write down a few of your own thoughts about the film Rabbit-Proof Fence. How did you react to the film? Did you enjoy it? Why or why not? Discuss your views with other class members.** · The film was well made. It was enjoyable throughout the movie, but near the end it was very sombre and sad, especially when Gracie is trapped and captured.

· Aboriginality and racism towards Aboriginals, as well as the pain members of the Stolen Generation (and their families) may have felt.
 * Ø What do you think are the film’s key themes and issues?**

· 1. Actual events, sympathetic towards aborigines, Australia, semi-documentary, dramatic, determination of Aboriginals and Englishmen alike, cultural and family importance, racism, human endurance & ingenuity, bravery, courage, children are capable of adult deeds, qualities are parts of all cultures alike. 2. The film was based on actual events and experiences. It is set from a potentially biased point of view (Aboriginal) and was filmed around Australia. It was a semi-documentary, having been based on real experiences. It highlights the determination of the Aboriginal and European races alike and the importance of culture and family. It also focuses on previous racism towards Aboriginals and human endurance, determination, bravery, courage and ingenuity. It also points out that even children are capable of adult feats and that certain qualities are part of all cultures alike.
 * Ø Write two different descriptions: one in a few short words or phrases and another in a full paragraph commenting on its style, what the film is about, where it is filmed, the key characters and what you learn from the film. Discuss the different impressions you create with the language you use.**

· Semi-documentary.
 * Ø How would you describe the genre of the film?**

· The script involves Gracie, Molly and Daisy clearly stating what they are going to do next, which helps the audience to understand exactly where they are going, which helps especially when many of the scenes look the same, with scrub and sand. Also, the actors display great expression, which tells the audience whether they are happy with their location or unhappy.
 * Ø The film passes through several phases – beginning at Jigalong, the journey to Moore River, the Moore River settlement, the first part of the journey, crossing the salt lake and finally, the return to Jigalong. What techniques does the director use to reflect and define these different phases?**

· One scene that had me particularly befuddled was the salt lake. I didn’t actually realise that it was a salt lake, as I have only ever seen them in Africa and South Australia.
 * Ø Which features of the events and scenes in the film surprised you? Explain your answer.**


 * Ø What other films has Phillip Noyce directed?** [[image:noyce.jpg width="136" height="142" align="right" caption="Phillip Noyce-director"]]<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #050505; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> · Backroads, Blind Fury, The Bone Collector, Catch A Fire, Dead Calm, Clear And Present Danger, Heat Wave, Newsfront, Patriot Games, The Saint, Salt, Sliver.

· Jigalong may have changed from how it was in the time the film was set, the inhabitants of Jigalong mightn’t have wanted the movie to be filmed there, and it would have been in poor taste altogether. Ø How did the cameraman use specific camera angles and lighting in the film to indicate different moods? What did you notice about the camera angles as the girls became more threatened? · Darker lighting was used when the girls were in a bad situation, and when they weren’t in immediate danger the scenes became lighter and less threatening. The cameraman used high angle shots and lower lighting when the girls were afraid or huddled up.
 * Ø The film was shot in the Flinders Ranges in Adelaide. Why do you think the production team chose this location instead of shooting in Jigalong where the film is actually set?**

Arrival at the Moore River Native Settlement

· Molly, whilst still feeling threatened, may have understood what was happening as she knew she could possibly be taken away (we know she knew because near the beginning of the film, she is told to hide herself and the other girls. She did not ask why she was being told to do so, indicating that she had been told this could happen). Gracie and Molly would have felt completely afraid and scared, not really knowing what was happening as they didn’t speak much English.
 * Ø Write or explain how each girl might have felt as they arrived at the Moore River Native Settlement.**

· They would have been frightened but also surprised that she was a kind white person.
 * Ø How might they have reacted to seeing the nun for the first time?**

· The girls’ barracks were crowded. Altogether the camp appeared to be run on as little money as possible, and it wasn’t very clean.
 * Ø What are your impressions of the conditions at the Moore River Native Settlement?**

· Some of the children may have had very rough lives at their homes so the Settlement was actually a step up for them, whereas others (like Molly, Gracie and Daisy) would have had good lives at their homes and the Settlement was worse for them.
 * Ø Why do you think that some children just accepted their fate, whereas others were desperate to escape?**

· They were whipped, their head shaved, and locked in a booth.
 * Ø What were the consequences for those who escaped and were caught by the tracker?**

· Nina told them, and they saw other children be punished for mistakes.
 * Ø How did Molly, Daisy and Gracie learn what was expected of them at the mission?**

· To stamp the language out and so that all the officials could understand what they were talking about.
 * Ø Why would they have been denied the right to speak in their own language?**

· The children took part in sewing, church and singing in English.
 * Ø What kinds of activities were the children involved in to ‘civilize and Christianize’ them?**

Emerald's Questions!! <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">﻿When the children were taken  ﻿ In your own words, describe the scene when the children are taken and how the tension is built up. Comment on how you feel, the music and the reactions of the children and the women. How do the sound effects and music add to the feelings of fear and confusion? How is the panic of the girls conveyed? The mothers had just got their ration when the police car drove in, hitting some debris. Officer Riggs got out to inspect the damage. The mothers see and drop their rations, yelling and running to their children. Officer Riggs jumps back into his car just as the mothers reach their children. The next shot is taken at a front angle. Showing the children and the mothers running with the police car catching up fast behind them. More shots from inside the car are taken showing the distance between the family and car lessoning. The music is tense and dramatic as the car cuts in front of the running family. The officer comes up, holding a paper while the mothers yell and shield their kids. First Gracie is grabbed and dumped in the car while her mother lies on the ground. Daisy is next taken while her mother tries grabbing her back. Molly holds onto her mother as the officer drags her away. The grandmother comes and they all bang the glass and run after the car as it drives away. The car drives off and the mothers collapse, wailing. In this scene you can feel the anguish and distress from the family as each were separated. The effect is helped by the movement of the camera (slightly shaky), the music and the waling of the family.

How does the film depict the anguish of the mothers whose children were taken? Also consider the acting, the settings, the sound effects and the use of symbolism. The anguish of the mothers is depicted through the way they lie on the dusty ground, wailing. The elder is sitting in the dust hitting herself with the stone. The music is solemn, it also shows their grief in another scene where they are sitting by the fire rocking and humming sadly.

Write a description of the scene through the eyes of either molly, one of the mothers or Riggs, the police officer. Maude (mother): I just collected my rations when a car came through the gate. I saw one of that devil Mr. Neville, men jump out. I knew they came to take my children and my sisters’ child. My sister saw them too and we dropped our stuff and ran. We could here him coming up behind us but we reached our children first. Molly ran ahead but the car kept on coming closer. Soon he had cut in front of us. I shielded my children behind me and yelled at him to go away but he kept waving a piece of paper. He took Gracie first, then my daisy. I tried getting her back but I couldn’t. That man came again to take my molly. But she and I fought back. All I could hear was my heart beating as they were locked away. My sister and I ran after the car as it drove away, I couldn’t let them have my children. Grief poured over me as I watched the car drive off into the distance.

Why do you think the grandmother would have hit herself with the stone? It may have been a ritual or tradition to show the anguish and grief caused by the children being taken away.

Record how you think each of the children would have been feeling as they were locked up in the train. They would have felt despair as they moved further and further away from their home. They may have even felt numb with shock. Gracie and daisy may have felt a little comfort from the fact that molly was going to look after them and they were still together. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Meeting Mavis What evidence is there to suggest that life is very difficult for Mavis? Mavis seemed to be always nervous. The farm she worked on was quite remote and it looked like she was the only worker. It may have been very lonely. When meeting the girls she seemed quite thrilled. Why was she so keen for the girls to shelter with her for the night? Mavis was from the same mission that the girls escaped from. She wanted to help the girls do what she was too frightened to do before. She is also probably amazed by their determination and how far they walked. She wanted to help achieve their goal. Why did Mavis think the boss would not report the girls? Mavis thought that the boss wouldn’t call the authorities because the boss was raping her. If the authorities came, that may have been uncovered and cause trouble for the boss.

<span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: #e4bae9; background-origin: initial; display: block; text-align: left;">Why do you think that Mavis rejects the option of running away? Mavis rejected the option of running away from the mission because she was scared she would be caught. She was scared that she would be caught, like some of the others and locked away in isolation and have her hair cut. There also might be the reason that there is nothing she can run away to. Her family roots may have been severed.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Working towards reconciliation What did you learn from viewing rabbit proof fence that you did not know before?

I learned quite a few things from watching the movie: -That there is a rabbit proof fence, stretching across western Australia. - There is a chief protector of aboriginals. - Not only police but also a tracker was sent to find any who escaped. - They whipped children at missions - I didn’t know that nuns ran the mission

How does this knowledge help you to understand indigenous Australians today?

It gives me a better understanding and the enormity of the grief and trouble that the act of the stolen generations caused. I can now understand the full consequences that the aboriginal people suffered from the stolen generation considering how they were treated and how their family roots were ripped from them.

<span style="color: #c400ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Evaluation: <span style="color: #c400ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Team Intoxicated Spirit Bird.jpg worked very effectively. Even though our group missed some lessons due to debating, we worked quickly and cooperated with each other. Everyone had about equal work to do so no one was pulling most of the weight. In our group there was no rush in publishing our work. Everyone posted their own so there was no confusion in our work. Our time management was really good. The bulk of the project was finished the afternoon before it was due. The only things left were some design changes (pictures and font). We had one team leader who was effective. Team Intoxicated Spirit Bird.jpg also had a wikipage person to monitor the page, add pictures and if necessary make some changes. Everyone chipped in so there were no problems with late posts. Communication was good and everyone succesfully completed their tasks. Overall Team Intoxicated Spirit Bird.jpg worked really well together with minimal if any problems. The only problem we encountered was getting 'What is a Wiki?' and our Evaluation posted up.