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Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ001116S
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00:29 There are over 200 million rabbits in Australia today. 00:31 That's more than 10 times the number of people that live here 00:35 Now that sounds like a lot of rabbits but it's only a fraction 00:40 of the population 100 years ago when there were 10 billion 00:44 rabbits across the country. And this rabbit proof fence, the 00:49 longest unbroken fence in the world was proposed to stop 00:53 rabbits getting into western Australia from the eastern 00:57 states. The idea was a crazy attempt at control on a national 01:03 scale. It seems ludicrous now to attempt to build a fence 01:08 across an entire nation to keep out rabbits that can both jump 01:12 very high and burrow underground but the attempt was made and 01:18 lots of money was wasted doing it. Similar unwise decisions 01:22 were made to control the features of aboriginal children 01:26 of mixed descent. Many of us are familiar with the story of the 01:31 rabbit proof fence the epic war that was told in a book and a 01:35 movie of the same name. We generally think of it as a 01:39 tragic story that illustrates the consequences of government 01:43 policy that went wrong and created what Australia now 01:47 refers to as the stolen generation. You may have seen 01:51 the movie, but the story is much more than the movie screen play. 01:55 This is a story about the hope in the hearts of children. This 02:00 true story illustrates what can be achieved when we hold on to 02:05 hope and refuse to lose our dreams to intimidation. The epic 02:09 journey made by three young girls in 1931 challenges us 02:14 today to wonder what we could achieve if we dared to hold onto 02:18 hope and have the faith to step out into the unknown. Come and 02:23 walk with me along the rabbit proof fence. 02:27 ♪ ♪ 02:51 It was the turn of the century. The 1900s had arrived, the end 02:58 of the Victorian era and the beginning of the Edwardian era. 03:01 It was an exciting time. The period featured many innovations 03:07 The first trans-Atlantic wireless signal was sent by 03:12 Marconi and the Wright brothers flew for the first time. The 03:18 largest ship in the world RMS Olympic had sailed on its maiden 03:23 voyage and her sister ship RMS Titanic was soon to follow. 03:28 Automobiles were now common and the South Pole was reached for 03:33 the first time by Roald Amundsen In Australia this spirit of 03:40 progress and achievement was tarnished by a massive problem. 03:44 Rabbits! Billions of them. They arrived in Australia with the 03:50 first fleet in 1788 and became a widespread pest after 24 wild 03:56 rabbits were released for hunting by an English farmer, 04:00 Thomas Austin, on his property here at Barwon Park near Geelong 04:04 Victoria in 1859. The rabbits quickly spread through the newly 04:10 clear farmland and began to migrate across Australia at a 04:15 rate of 120 km a year reproducing at a rate of 18-30 04:21 per single female rabbit per year their numbers exploded. 04:26 Farmers used poison and traps in an effort to reserve some 04:31 control and bounties were offered to professional rabbit 04:34 hunters. But despite these efforts the rabbits continued to 04:38 flourish in plague proportions and were costing the nation 04:42 millions of dollars in damage to crops and pastures. In 1901, 04:49 a royal commission addressed the rabbit question determining that 04:53 in this age of scientific advancement it must be possible 04:58 to find a solution. They decided that a fence should be 05:02 constructed right across the country to divide pastoral land 05:08 from the dry bushland. The first rabbit proof fence is 05:12 Australia's equivalent of the Great Wall of China traversing 05:16 the vast dusty plains of western Australia from the Southern 05:20 Ocean at Salvation Boat Harbor to 80 miles east north Port 05:25 Headland, more than 1800 km. It was the longest fence in the 05:32 world and cut Australia into two pieces. At times more than 400 05:38 men and 300 camels, horses and donkeys were engaged in 05:42 constructing the fence. They worked against bush fires grass, 05:47 floods and cyclones. Fire would burn the wooden posts in places. 05:52 Netting beneath the ground would be eaten through or sections of 05:56 the fence were buried by sand drifts. So the government 06:00 employed boundary riders to maintain the fence. Boundary 06:06 riders worked the fence in pairs patrolling up and down the 06:10 stretch of more than 200 km and worked on repairing sections of 06:15 the fence damaged by fire, flood or animals. And the boundary 06:21 riders also formed relationships with aboriginal women. Children 06:27 from these relationships were called half cast. The government 06:32 believing it was acting in the best interest of these children 06:36 unwisely decided to remove them, forcibly if necessary, from the 06:42 aboriginal families and culture and sent them to institutions to 06:47 be raised and educated as Europeans and to eradicate their 06:51 aboriginal identity and culture. This forced removal caused great 06:57 trauma and distress to the children and their families. 07:01 These children became known as the stolen generation. By 1927, 07:10 following wartime shortages and labor supplies, the fence was in 07:14 disrepair. In 1930, there were calls for it to be torn down. It 07:20 was then that this broken fence, symbol of a society that felt 07:25 its scientific and industrial progress could bring order and 07:29 control to the wilderness of nature became the scene for an 07:34 amazing act of defiance and hope and one of the longest walks in 07:40 the history of the outback. Jigalong was established in 1907 07:49 as a maintenance and ration store for workmen working on the 07:53 rabbit-proof fence. The store also distributed food, rations, 07:58 clothing, tobacco, and blankets to the Martu people who came in 08:02 from the western desert. With a rich history and culture going 08:06 back many years the Martu were one of the last indigenous 08:10 populations to come into contact with Europeans. In 1917, Molly 08:17 Craig was born here at Jigalong. Molly's mother was Martu, the 08:21 father was an Englishman who was an inspector on the rabbit-proof 08:25 fence. The father named her Molly after his sister. Molly's 08:30 half-sister Daisy was born in 1923. In 1931, the government 08:36 forcibly removed the two girls and their cousin Gracie from the 08:40 family. Molly was 14, Gracie 11, and Daisy was only eight years 08:47 old. The girls were taken by car and then by train to Port 08:51 Headland further north. There they were put on the MB Kalinda 08:56 a ship bound for Fremantle. The journey by sea would take them 09:00 five days. After landing in Fremantle the girls were 09:06 fascinated and bewildered by the busy city with its cars, trams 09:11 and crowds of people. It was such a contrast to their desert 09:16 home and surroundings. They remember stopping here at 09:20 Mogumber and the matron coming inside of this hotel and then 09:24 bringing them sandwiches and lemonade. The next stop, 09:28 Moore River Settlement. This is the site of the Moore River 09:35 Settlement. Today it's in ruins. But when it was opened in 1918 09:40 one year after Molly was born it was designed by the West 09:45 Australian government to be a small self-supporting farming 09:50 settlement for about 200 aboriginal people with a school 09:53 and a health clinic. But the land wasn't good for farming 09:58 and so in the 1920s its purpose was shifted. The residents were 10:04 usually brought here against their will. The camp attempted 10:08 to be an orphanage, crèche, relief depot and home for old 10:13 persons and unmarried mothers and the unwell without being 10:18 adequately staffed blundered to provide any decent services at 10:23 all. Many aboriginal children of mixed descent then called half 10:29 casts were brought here usually against their will as well. 10:32 Moore River Settlement was under the control of Mr. Neville the 10:38 West Australian Protector of Aborigines. He had the power 10:42 to remove any half cast child from their family from anywhere 10:47 within the state. Molly, Gracie and Daisy arrived here on the 10:52 first of August 1931 after traveling more than a week and 10:57 over 1600 km. Forced to sleep indoors and follow a strict 11:03 daily schedule was foreign to the girls who were accustomed to 11:08 a life of freedom in the great open spaces of the outback. 11:12 They were restless. They longed for the red sand of the desert, 11:18 the starry sky at night, the warmth of the campfire and the 11:22 security of their family. They longed for home. The three girls 11:28 spent only two nights in the cramped conditions at Moore 11:32 River before Molly decided that she was going home. And so with 11:37 hope in their hearts and a deep longing for their family and 11:41 land the girls headed out on an epic 1600 km journey along the 11:48 rabbit proof fence. They were going home. The first night 11:55 after their escape the girls dug into an empty rabbit burrow and 11:59 stayed dry and warm surrounded by, ironically, rabbits. In the 12:06 morning they awoke to rabbits jumping all around them but they 12:09 had no matches so couldn't cook any to eat. On the second day 12:14 they were given a box of matches by two Martu stockmen they met, 12:18 so were able to catch and cook rabbits for their dinner. On the 12:29 third day the girls were walking in the rain tired, cold and 12:34 hungry. They left their coats behind so that they could walk 12:39 faster. They heard chickens and stumbled in the yard of a 12:44 homestead. Molly sent Gracie and Daisy up to the house to ask for 12:49 food. The farmer's wife, Mrs. Flannigan invited them inside. 12:54 But the girls were scared so she assured them that she wouldn't 12:59 report them. She gave them a meal of sandwiches with thick 13:03 slices of mutton and tomato chutney, big slices of fruit 13:08 cake and sweet milky tea. Mrs. Flannigan wanted to know where 13:12 the girls planned to go. Molly owned up to her plan to walk the 13:17 rabbit-proof fence. It was then that Molly learned that they 13:21 were walking in the wrong direction. Mrs. Flannigan gave 13:26 them directions to the fence. Then she packed bags with flour, 13:30 salt, tea leaves, fruit cake, half a leg of mutton, bread, 13:37 matches and utensils for cooking She also gave them warm army 13:41 coats before sending the girls on their way. After the girls 13:46 left with their supplies she sent a message via the telephone 13:50 exchange that she had seen the girls and she was worried that 13:54 they might die walking 13:56 alone in the desert. Many more farm houses and stockmen showed 14:02 kindness to the girls like Mrs. Flannigan. The girls also hunted 14:06 small animals and found drinking water. They survived the long 14:11 walk due to the bush crop skills taught to them by their mothers 14:16 aunties and uncles and the kindness of strangers that they 14:20 met along the way. On average the girls had to walk about 30 14:26 km each day. After walking 800 km from Moore River Settlement 14:33 they finally reached the rabbit proof fence. Now let's put that 14:38 800 km into context. It's further that the distance 14:42 between Newcastle and Brisbane on the east coast of 14:46 Australia. It's about the distance that you might drive 14:49 on the Hume highway between Melbourne and the outskirts of 14:54 Sidney. It's longer than the distance between New York City 14:58 in America and Quebec City in Canada. And when the girls 15:02 reached the rabbit proof fence they were only half way along 15:07 the journey. Scratches on their legs from the sharp bush became 15:13 infected so Molly and Gracie took turns in carrying Daisy. 15:18 And Molly sometimes helped Gracie as well. They were cold, 15:22 hungry and exhausted. But their longing for home and the hope in 15:28 their hearts drove them on. The girls were being pursued by the 15:36 police under instructions from Mr. Neville. Each day that the 15:40 police spent looking for the girls was charged as a service 15:45 fee to Mr. Neville's office. As the girls got farther north the 15:50 costs of the chase were mounting The local newspapers kept up a 15:55 commentary on the failure to locate the girls causing 15:58 Mr. Neville great embarrassment. The girls walked on largely 16:04 oblivious to the fuss they were causing. Molly was focused on 16:08 the goal of getting home and was very careful to hide when 16:13 necessary and to only approach those people she felt she could 16:17 trust. At one point the three girls hid up a tree to avoid 16:21 being seen by a small plane flying low to search for them. 16:26 The girls had barely enough to eat and grew thin and weak. A 16:32 few weeks away from Jigalong Gracie was told by a stockman 16:36 that her mother had moved to another station. So Gracie left 16:40 Molly and Daisy to catch a train to try to find her mother. 16:45 Gracie wasn't' successful as the authorities found her and 16:49 returned her to Moore River. After nine weeks of walking 16:54 1600 km Molly and Daisy finally arrived in Jigalong and were 17:00 reunited with their families. Their journey was the equivalent 17:04 of walking from one end of New Zealand to the other. The day 17:08 after Molly and Daisy were reunited with their families 17:12 here in Jigalong everyone moved camp deep into the bush. 17:17 Official records contain correspondence that the girls 17:21 were occasionally sighted but basically they went into hiding 17:25 with their families for many years. Four years after Molly, 17:33 Gracie and Daisy escaped the Moseley Royal commission visited 17:38 Moore River Settlement and were horrified by the dirty cramped 17:44 conditions here. The Royal commission recommended that the 17:48 Moore River Settlement be closed and that Mr. Neville, the 17:52 protector of aborigines in Western Australia, be sacked. 17:57 But Mr. Neville continued to blame his problems on the lack 18:02 of money provided by the government and he remained in 18:05 his position until he retired. The Moore River Settlement 18:10 remained open. Nine years after their escape Molly was taken to 18:16 Moore River again after surgery for appendicitis. Now a married 18:21 woman with two young daughters Molly spent 12 months at Moore 18:27 River before deciding to leave. She made the walk back to 18:31 Jigalong a second time carrying her 18-month-old baby all the 18:38 way. Molly's oldest daughter Doris had to remain. Doris was 18:43 educated here at Moore River and became a nurse. She didn't see 18:48 her mother until she was an adult. Molly's youngest daughter 18:53 was taken from her when the girl was four years old. She was 18:58 told she was an orphan and was adopted. Molly never saw her 19:03 baby girl again. And what about Daisy? Well she hid in the 19:09 desert with her family until she was an adult. Following the 19:14 trauma of her early years Daisy found peace in the promises of 19:18 the Bible, accepted Jesus and became a Christian. Then she 19:23 worked as a house maid in various stations in the district 19:26 She married and had four children. After her husband died 19:31 she wanted her children to have a Christian education and so 19:36 moved here to Karalundi Mission and School. Her children 19:40 attended the school here finally able to freely attend an 19:45 independent school for aboriginal children. Daisy 19:49 worked as a cook and housekeeper and was active in the church 19:53 community. When she retired Daisy returned to Jigalong and 19:58 moved into a house next to Molly Today Jigalong is an aboriginal 20:04 community. The land was returned to the Martu people in 1974. It 20:09 has a community school, shops and a medical clinic. 20:16 The construction of the rabbit proof fence is typical of a 20:19 European concept of ownership. Laying out a boundary, marking 20:24 one's territory, taking out a corner or staking a claim. 20:29 This is so very different from an aboriginal concept of 20:33 ownership. The fences that are influential in aboriginal 20:37 communities are social and cultural seen in the light of 20:42 relationships, social obligations and sacred places. 20:46 The story of Molly, Gracie and Daisy's epic walk illustrates 20:52 the importance of hope, the power of relationships, and the 20:56 meaning of home. Molly's home and family were so vitally 21:01 important to her that she held onto her dream of going home 21:05 with hope and determination refusing to be intimidated by 21:10 those who wanted to control her future. Sadly throughout history 21:16 unscrupulous leaders have subjugated and uprooted innocent 21:20 people and defenseless nations in an attempt to control them. 21:24 But it doesn't necessarily mean the end. There is still hope. 21:29 For example, in the Bible Jeremiah chapter 29 is a letter 21:36 to a community in exile. They'd been uprooted and taken from 21:41 their home. They were in a strange land, a foreign land. 21:45 The letter carries an encouraging message about 21:50 holding onto hope and refusing to be intimidated by those 21:55 abusing their power. In the letter God speaks through the 22:00 prophet Jeremiah to exiles living in Babylon almost 600 22:04 years before Jesus' birth. The recipients of the letter had 22:09 just lived through a horror similar to that experienced by 22:13 many indigenous families during the time when their children 22:16 were forcibly removed and placed in state institutions. 22:20 Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army had just invaded Judah capturing 22:26 thousands of people, taking them from their homes and deporting 22:30 them to Babylon. This letter was written to people in incredible 22:35 pain, more than most of us will ever experience. They were 22:39 mourning dead, their children had been stolen, they were 22:43 experiencing a forced move and a transition to a strange land 22:48 and a foreign culture and you'd think through that tragic 22:51 situation God 22:53 can still peak words of hope Listen, here's God's promise 22:59 to people who feel they're in a hopeless situation. Here's what 23:04 he said to the dispossessed and downtrodden in Jeremiah chapter 23:08 29 verses 10 and 11: 23:31 God has a special message for those who have been dispossessed 23:34 He has a special message for those who have been uprooted 23:38 from their homes and taken to a strange land, a foreign land. 23:42 And the message is, no matter what has happened in the past, 23:47 no matter how dark the situation may seem to you, God is in 23:52 control. You have not been forgotten. God cares about every 23:57 intricate detail in your life. God has a plan for your life. 24:02 He will bring you peace and give you a future that is filled with 24:07 hope. But that's not all. Listen as we read further in Jeremiah 24:11 chapter 29:... 24:32 What a wonderful promise from God. He promises to bring us 24:36 back from captivity. You may be held captive by fear, loss, 24:42 substance abuse, guilt or a broken relationship. God is 24:47 saying trust me. I have every thing under control. The 24:52 situation may not be good, but I know what I'm doing. I have 24:57 your best interest in mind. I will bring you back. God 25:02 promises hope to any community that has lost almost everything. 25:07 He promises hope to every individual who has experienced 25:11 loss. And it was this hope that Molly and Daisy found. It was 25:16 this hope that took them home and gave them peace in later 25:20 life. They discovered that they had not been forgotten and that 25:25 God did have a plan for their lives. They accepted 25:28 Jesus as their 25:29 Savior and found true peace and hope for the future. Hope for 25:34 this life and beyond. If you are facing challenges in your life, 25:43 and would like to find peace today and hope for the future, 25:47 I'd like to tell you about the free gift we have for all our 25:52 viewers today. It's an inspiring booklet called Seeing Through 25:57 God's Eyes. This book shares the secret of finding true happiness 26:02 in our lives. It shows us ways to deal with the challenges we 26:06 face in everyday life and how to find peace and hope. This book 26:11 is our gift to you and it's absolutely free. There is no 26:15 cost or obligation. So please don't miss this wonderful 26:18 opportunity to receive the gift we have for you today. Here's 26:23 the information you need: 26:24 Phone or text us at 0436-333-555 in Australia or 020-422-2042 in 26:36 New Zealand or visit our website TIJ.tv to request today's free 26:42 offer and we'll sent it to you totally free of charge and with 26:46 no obligation. Write to us at: 27:01 Don't delay. Call or text us now 27:07 If you've been held captive by fear, loss, substance abuse, or 27:12 a broken relationship and would like to experience this peace 27:15 and hope, why not ask for it right now as we pray? 27:20 Dear heavenly Father, the story of Molly, Gracie and Daisy is 27:27 both heartbreaking and inspiring We thank you for being a God of 27:32 love who cares for each one of us. It's reassuring to know that 27:36 you have a good plan for our lives. We are grateful that 27:41 whatever difficulty and challenge we may be facing 27:44 you are working good in all of it. And so today we step forward 27:50 in faith and hope trusting you in all things and seeking to 27:54 cooperate fully with you plan for us. Thank you for giving us 28:00 peace for today and hope for tomorrow. In Jesus' name we pray 28:05 Amen. 28:08 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2021-07-29