RABBIT-PROOF FENCE Q&A with DORIS PILKINGTON GARIMARA Movie Interview by Toby White © 2005 PHASE9 ENTERTAINMENT

Following a preview screening of RABBIT-PROOF FENCE, PHASE9 met the daughter of the film’s protagonist and the book’s writer, Doris Pilkington Garimara at the Dorchester Hotel in London. Did it take you a long time to write the book? About nine years. from the time I heard the story it took me that long to gather all the information. I was completely unaware of this practice of removing children from their families, how aware are the people of Australia of it? Very few… Why is that? Was there a cover up or is it simply lack of education on the subject? It was never taught in schools so the people who were actually involved were the only people who knew about it. They had Protection Officers who worked on cattle stations who kept in regular contact with the Department [of Aboriginal Affairs] when Aboriginal children were born on their property and the department was notified immediately. The government then monitored the movement of this child until about four years old and then the Protection Officer would then pick this child up and take them to camps. Has the book been published here? I think it’s going to be published through Miramax. To tie in with the film? Yes. What was the reaction in Australia to the book? As soon as it was published, a journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald contacted me, wanted to meet me and actually drive from Moore River to where my mother and aunt lived. So we arranged that. He went back to Sydney and then wrote an article called The Long Walk. As soon as the article was published, the University of Queensland Press was flooded with phone calls from film companies wanting to buy the film rights to the book. There were so many that UQP asked them all to write a synopsis on how they would make the film and Christine Olsen, the writer and producer of Rabbit-Proof Fence, was the successful film-maker. Continued on page 2

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