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Issue No. 125 | 22 February 2002 |
Unfair and Dismal
Interview: If Not Now, When? Activists: Fighting Back Industrial: Croon And Divide Politics: Politics of Extinction History: Harry Bridges: International Labour Hero International: Rats in the Ranks Review: Follow The Fence, Find The Truth Satire: Howard Screws Refugee Kids: G-G Turns Blind Eye Poetry: Let It Be
Building Workers' Bid to Win Back Lives Dog-Tired � Long Hours Leave Beagles Buggered Home Care Workers Reject Sweat Building Commission's Costly Spin Caltex Asked To Explain Price Hikes Palm Sunday Resurrected for Refugees Dismissals: Labor Blocks The Lot Company Collapses: Union Wants Bank Powers Legal Action to Block Job Exports Councils Targeted in Contracting Campaign CFMEU Constructs Lebanese Bridge Israeli Aircraft Destroy Most Of Palestinian Union HQ
The Soapbox The Locker Room Week in Review
Tom's Foolery Give Us a Spray!
Labor Council of NSW |
Review Follow The Fence, Find The Truth
*************** Rabbit Proof Fence tells the true story of three young Aboriginal sisters who are taken from their mother and placed in a settlement 1000 miles away to be "given everything our culture has to offer" in the 1930s. This is the brief outlined by Chief Protector of Aboriginals Dr Neville (Kenneth Brannagh), the man all children unfortunate enough to find themselves in his care nickname Neville the Devil. What society has to offer children branded half-caste in the 1930s is an organised State-run program that systematically breeds out the blackness of their skin over a period of several generations, in return for a lifetime of servitude. The three sisters, Molly (Everlyn Sampi), Daisy (Laura Mongahan) and Gracie (Tianna Sansbury) cling to each other when they are taken from their mother, making a tight little unit whose bond is their only protection. Together they escape just days after their capture, attempting to follow the rabbit proof fence all the way home. There is something in the way they take on the rough desert terrain as though convinced that no matter how inhospitable the land and how seemingly hopeless the journey, taking it on is their only chance of survival. Intent on being reunited with their mother, following the fence seems to keep the children's spirits alive even during long absences of earthly sustenance. Meanwhile for Neville the Devil the shit is hitting the fan. Worried about what the press will say if they find out about the escape, Mr Neville earnestly explains that the cost will be "not just to our pride" but to the "reputation of the whole department". The problem of half-casts won't go away and if left will fester he says adding, "these children are that problem". But nowhere is the bitter irony of white Australia's shallow defence better summed up than when Dr Neville in exasperation exclaims, "the bush natives have to be protected from themselves. If only they could see what we are trying to do for them." Phillip Noyce's Rabbit Proof Fence is a devastating account of white Australia's less than proud and excruciatingly vain history told in a matter-of-fact way. As an adventure story it is always engaging, entertaining and truly cathartic on a national scale. John Howard must see this film. Rating: **** (Nation building)
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