Film Screening + Yarning Circle

Saturday 29th May 6pm - 8:30pm
TAFE Coomera, Foxwell Road, Coomera Q4209

**RABBIT-PROOF FENCE**

Rabbit-Proof Fence tells the true story of Molly, Gracie and Daisy - three Aboriginal girls in Western Australia, 1931 who are forcibly abducted from their mothers.

Based on the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Molly's daughter, Doris Pilkington Garimara, the film was released in Australia in February 2002. It introduced many people to the concept of the 'stolen generations’: Aboriginal children who were removed from their families as the result of government policies.

Western Australia, 1931. Government policy includes taking half-white, half-Aboriginal children from their Aboriginal mothers and sending them a thousand miles away to what amounts to indentured servitude, "to save them from themselves." Molly, Daisy, and Grace (two sisters and a cousin who are fourteen, ten, and eight) arrive at their Gulag and promptly escape, under Molly's lead. For several days they walk north, following a fence that keeps rabbits from settlements, eluding a native tracker and the regional constabulary. Their pursuers take orders from the government's "Chief Protector of Aborigines", A.O. Neville, blinded by Anglo-Christian certainty, evolutionary world view, and conventional wisdom. Can the girls survive?

**Yarning Circle**

With Special Guests:

Jonathan Link

Jonathan Link is a proud Aboriginal man with connections to Kuku Yalinji, Nyamal Pilbara Region WA and Quandamooka, Stradbroke Island. His extensive work history has contributed to making a change in Aboriginal &Torres Strait Islander “Mental Health”.

Working in the field of Indigenous mental health and social and emotional wellbeing has taken him across Australia and to Papua New Guinea. A secondment to the Australasian Centre for Rural & Remote Mental Health in 2011 enabled a collaboration that led to the design and formulation of Deadly Thinking.

Army's second Indigenous Elder, Aunty Lorraine Hatton, OAM

Aunty Lorraine is a Quandamooka Elder of the Noonuccal and Ngughi tribes in South-East Queensland. Enlisting into the Royal Australian Signals Corps, Aunty Lorraine maintained a distinguished and successful career serving 30 years in the Australian Army.

In 2003, Aunty Lorraine was the first Indigenous female to be promoted to Warrant Officer Class Two and posted to the Battlefield Command Support System Project Team in Townsville. The following year, she was posted to the 5th Aviation Regiment and deployed to Afghanistan as the first female Communications Manager with the Special Forces Task Group to establish the communications network in Kandahar.

Glenn Barry TAFE Queensland Indigenous Liaison

A Gamilaraay man - the First Nation peoples of North Western NSW and Western Qld., Barry holds a Bachelor of Fine Art and Bachelor of Digital Media with Honours. He is the Indigenous Liaison and Student Support Officer at TAFE Qld Gold Coast.

Competent in providing leadership and administration services, Barry has over 15 years’ experience in the secondary and tertiary sector (TAFE and University) as well as nearly 20 years’ experience as an artist (and 15 years as a Chef).

Growing up on the Gold Coast, he acknowledges his rich heritage and offers expanded notions of an urban Aboriginal experience. Barry structures his own identity through reclaiming his ancestral voice with music and art. He is the Yidaki / Didgeridoo player with the group Sacred Sound Journey.

Warning: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this program may contain the images, voices and names of people who have passed away.

"In the spirit of reconciliation Pacific Arts & Cultural Heritage Inc acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”

This reconciliation initiative is proudly supported by the Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships through the Celebrating Reconciliation Small Grants Program.

NOTE: This is a COVID SAFE EVENT. People must not attend this event if they have COVID-19 symptoms.