Dead Woman Walkabout

Molly Kelly, the Australian aborigine on whose life the independent film Rabbit-Proof Fence was based, died at age 87. In 1931, at the age of 13, Kelly was taken from her home to a government institution to work as a servant, as was the case with thousands of other members of the "lost generations," as part of Australia's forced assimilation policy that lasted until 1971. Kelly, her sister and a cousin escaped and followed the 1,000-mile long fence, constructed to control an explosion in rabbit population, to their home. Kelly's daughter, who was also taken by the government, wrote her mother's story after being reunited 20 years later.