Rabbit Proof Fence -The Decline of Aboriginal Society

  1.)   As the European settlers began to colonize the werstern coast of Australia the Aboriginals faced many hardships. Dehumanization is an issue that has been occuring for thousands of years across the world. The idea that a certain race, ethnicity or gender has greater power is what causes the dehumanization of humans. In chapter 3 the Aboriginals were faced with not being able to have freedon of belief and religon. The aboriginals were forced to move away from there sacred land, "they had to fight to find ways to return to their secret and sacred sites to perfom their dances and other ceremonies that were crucial to their culture and whole way of life" (16). This idea that there religion was of lower class then americans way of life was pushed forth onto the Aboriginals. As well the Aboriginals were looked as better workers then americans. The reason for this is "we can never afford to pay to pay English servants the high wages they expect besides feeding them so well. The black fellows receive little more than rice - their simple diet" (16). The universal declaration of Human rights explains that humans should have the freedom from slavery. The aboriginals were looked as only labourers. Children were taken away from families and transported down south. Every mother "was aware that their offspring could be taken from them at any time and they were powerless to stop the abductors" (40). The idea that children can be taken away from family goes against the idea of freedom from interference with privacy, family, home, and correspondence. The government should not be able to go and take children away just because of a racial issue.

2.)     The civilizing of Australia corresponds to the history of american because when European settlers arrived in the United States they had the idea of manifest destiny. Manifest Destiny is the idea that moving westward is the Europeans destiny. The Europeans went against their word and began to slowly push native americans out of their sacred land.  Soon that wasn't enough for the europeans, they began making deals with the Native Americans and suggested that they live on a reservation. The idea of reservations corresponds to the novel Rabbit Proof Fence when the children were taken away from family and moved into institutions like Carralup Settlement and Moore River Native Settlement. Europeans had the ideal image that they had higher power then the Native Americans.

3.)     The government was not just by taking control over the children of mixed descent. Any child deserves the chance to live with their born parents. To take a child away from their mother and father is taking a child away from a story. A chance to know their history and their past. A child needs that opportunity in life to grow from. Children taken away from parents do not get the opportunity to know certain family members like distant cousins, or aunts and uncles. Governement should not get involved in family situations unless a child is being brutally beat, or something along the lines of ruining a childs future.