Getting Started
Overview
Home to Mother tells the amazing true story of
three Aboriginal girls, Molly, Daisy and Gracie. They all have Aboriginal
mothers and white fathers. The Probation Officer takes them away from their
families. Molly leads them home, with many adventures along the way. As they
follow the rabbit-proof fence home, they have to hide from search parties, they
see fighting kangaroos and they learn how to find different sorts of bush
tucker.
The girls were helped by some people, but others told
their location to the police. Somehow, they still evaded the police and
trackers. The girls walked an incredible 20–40 kilometres each day.
Home to Mother is a version of Follow the
Rabbit-Proof Fence for younger readers. Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence is
the book that the famous 2002 movie is based on.
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Author profile
Doris Pilkington's traditional Aboriginal name is
Garimara. Her mother, Molly Craig, was taken away from her family by
authorities to Moore River Native Settlement. The true story Home to Mother is
based on Molly's escape from the settlement. When Doris, Molly's daughter, was
a toddler she was taken from her home at Balfour Downs Station in Western Australia by authorities. Her baby sister, Anna, was taken too. And her mother,
Molly, was taken again. They all were sent to Moore River Native Settlement,
the same institution that Molly had escaped from ten years before. So
both Doris and her mother, Molly, are stolen children.
Doris trained as a nursing aide. After getting married and
having a family of her own, she studied journalism and has worked in film and
video production. She is now famous for writing Follow the Rabbit-Proof
Fence and she has travelled the world. She has received a Member of the
Order of Australia award.
Source: University of Queensland Press (used with
permission), adapted by the writer
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Useful websites
Note to teachers: many websites on this topic are
unsuitable for younger readers.
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Focus questions
Before reading the book
- Look at the front cover. What might three girls be doing
in the desert?
- Why do you think they are holding onto a fence?
- What might the fence be there for?
- What is the countryside like?
- Read the back cover. What do you think might happen to the
girls?
- What can you predict about the author's background?
During and after reading the book
- How do the girls show courage?
- How do the girls show love?
- How is this part of Australia's countryside both harsh and
beautiful?
- How important is the rabbit-proof fence?
- What have you learned about the 'stolen children'?
- How would this story be different if it happened now?
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Activities
Responding to text
Storymaps
Beyond the classroom
After reading the book, draw a storymap of where
the girls went, starting and ending at their home at Jigalong. Look at the map at
the start of the book for help. Ask for family and community volunteers to come
to the classroom and help draw storymaps (older students may not need
help).
A Long Walk
Class
The girls walked 20–40 km each day. Walk a shorter
distance, say 2–4 km, to get an estimation of how far the girls walked
daily. Wear sports shoes and a hat, and take a water bottle. When you finish,
stretch and drink more water, then sit in the shade and put three people in the
hot seat – they take the roles of Molly, Gracie and Daisy. Ask them
questions about their walk.
Senses
Class
Read some of the descriptive writing in the book, starting
with p 1, 'the azure sky...'.
Small groups
Write some examples of these descriptive passages in the Senses Chart.
Individuals
Write your own description of the bush using the five
senses. If possible, go into the bush as a class first, or read Going Bush by
Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle. Jot down what you notice in another copy of the Senses
Chart.
Poem
Individuals
Read what happened when the girls were taken from their
family on p 7 and scan the book again to see what happened on their walk
home. Write a poem about how they felt.
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Responding to images
Cover
Class
Discuss: How does the illustrator make you feel that the
girls have a long way to go? How is perspective shown on the cover
design? What is shown in the foreground, mid-ground and background?
Individuals
Paint your own landscape showing perspective and
distance. Use the foreground, mid-ground and background.
Illustrations of the girls
Class
Create a mind map of the girls' characteristics.
Discuss: Are the illustrations of the girls like you imagine them?
- What characteristics of the girls do they show?
- How would youdraw them differently?
- Which characteristics would you change or exaggerate?
Individuals
Draw the girls with some changes or exaggerations from
the illustrations in the book. Make them look different from each other by
showing their individual personalities and/or actions. They could be drawn on
coloured paper, such as orange to show the desert background, or by using a
computer drawing program.
The Rabbit-Proof Fence
Class
The girls followed the rabbit-proof fence to get home.
Look at the illustrations of the fence on the cover and inside the book.
Sometimes it almost seems like 'follow the yellow brick road' (p 13) from The
Wizard of Oz. Both the fence and the yellow brick road are a symbol of
freedom and hope.
Are they both a good path to follow? Why or why not?
Brainstorm other things that could be followed (realistically or imaginatively),
such as a river or rainbow.
Small groups
Make one of these 'path' symbols that could be
followed, such as a fence, using craft materials.
Beyond the classroom
Photograph your path symbols with a digital camera and
send the images home, to someone in the extended family or to a family
friend. (Teacher note: permission may need to be organised beforehand.) The
craft creations can also be displayed at school – perhaps in the entrance foyer,
hall or corridor.
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Events of the past
Journey
Class
This walk was the longest by three young girls in Australia's history (p 14). Discover some other journeys through Australia's interior. These
could be on foot, camel or horseback (p 95), or other ways. Show what you have
discovered as a diorama with a heading and brief written explanation as
well.
Stolen children
Children who had one Aboriginal and one white parent were
called mudamuda (p 3–4), or 'half-caste' (p 5). In Australia's past, many of these children were taken from their families and sent to institutions like
the Moore River Native Settlement (p 7). These children were called 'stolen
children'.
Individuals
Write a recount about how the girls in the book
were taken by the Protection Officer.
Draw a floor plan of their dormitory.
Write a menu of what they ate at the Native Settlement.
Beyond the classroom
Post one of these from each student on the school intranet
(if available).
Individuals
Read the short novel The Burnt Stick by Anthony
Hill, which is also about stolen children.
Rabbit-proof fence
Individuals
Read the description of the rabbit-proof fence from the
book and from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit-proof_fence.
Complete a PMI Chart. What is the purpose of the fence? How did it help
the girls? What is its importance in Australian history – then and now?
Passing on culture and skills
Class
Australian Aboriginal people have a rich culture and
many survival skills, such as hunting and food gathering. Discuss: In the book,
how was this culture and how were these skills passed on through the
generations? (Read p 2 and elsewhere.) How are they passed on now? View the
Aboriginal story animations by the ABC, Dust Echoes (http://www.abc.net.au/message/dustechoes).
These are described as 'ancient stories, new voices'. You will probably enjoy
the animation, Frog Story.There is also a Frog Story game and
Frog Song (the song is in the Lesson Plans).
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Making connections
Are there stolen children now?
Class
Could something like the story about stolen children
happen now? In Australia? In other countries? (Consider overseas adoptions,
children living in poverty, abused children etc.) Use a Sunshine Wheel to
help organise your thinking about this.
Families
Small groups
In the book, the girls wanted to get home to their mothers
(see the end in particular). Any girls or boys who were taken from their
families would want to go home to them. Make up a puppet play about lost
children and how they get home. Celebrate their homecoming in the puppet
play. Make stick puppets by cutting out people shapes from styrofoam and
taping these to drinking straws or pencils. See www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/puppets/styrostraw/
(other methods of making simple puppets are also available on this website).
Perform puppet plays for the class, and debrief as a class after the plays.
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