Dear Loudmouth,

You wrote;

“So to you, Andrew Bolt is an authority ?”

Of course not but I did think he might have some currency with you given you are not unfavourably disposed to the slime ball.

Well perhaps the words of another of your favourites Mr Windshuttle might carry a bit more weight.

“Pilkington was one of Molly’s two daughters. She wrote her work from the stories told by her mother and Daisy about their escape in August 1931 from the Moore River Settlement north of Perth and their three-month, 1600-kilometre cross-country walk back to their families. Pilkington originally trained as a nurse but later studied journalism at Curtin University, where she ob­viously learnt some useful research skills.”

“For her book, Pilkington searched the Western Australian archives and found a number of relevant surviving documents. They allowed her to reconstruct the girls’ removal and escape, both from their own perspective and the viewpoint of the authorities. She found docu­ments about the removal of Molly, aged fourteen, and Gracie, aged eleven, but not any records about the removal of Daisy, aged eight. Pilkington also found telegrams, memos and letters sent by police and welfare officials as they pursued the escapees across the state.”

http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/history-wars/2010/03/the-holes-in-the-rabbit-proof-fence/

Windshuttle does not have an issue with the book but rather the film. He obviously believes the escape and journey occurred. Why is it that you do not? Well I think we both know the correct answer to that one but I would like to hear your version.

Hi Steele,

No probs. I think both Bolt and Windschuttle were being careful and diplomatic by recording that somebody had claimed to have documentation about the girls being taken to Moore River. I don't think that has ever been disputed.

As for documentation - " ....telegrams, memos and letters sent by police and welfare officials as they pursued the escapees across the state .... " - I'll suspend my belief until some of it is made available, if any of it exists AND actually relates to the 'escape' and not to the taking into care of the girls.

Readers should check out the "Rabbit Proof Fence" on Google. There were actually a few fences in the North, one running towards the coat, others running out into the desert. Dreadful country. Which were the girls supposed to take ?

You know, we are talking about three young girls walking a thousand miles across extremely harsh country, moon-scape in parts. The police were supposed to be like Keystone Kops, never getting ahead of the girls ? Really ? Even after the first few days ? In the bitter cold of late winter, they survived week after week, until the boiling hot of summer at the other end ?

Perhaps the couple of hundred Rabbit Department employees along the various Fences provided them with shelter, food and water ? And didn't say anything to the local newspaper reporter that night ?

I would love to see a re-enactment of this myth - a group of, say, twenty athletes, each walking a stretch of fifty miles, eighty kilometres, starting out with no food or water. How many do you think might finish their stretch ?

Christ, people die out there. Why do we believe, without evidence, that three little girls can do the impossible ? Aboriginal people are as intelligent and resourceful as anybody else, sure, but they're not supernatural. Sorry, oops, I said it.

Cheers,

Joe

Dear Joe,

Miracles do happen.

Did you watch "60 Minutes," on Sunday, 26th Feb. 2017?

Ross Chapman was fishing alone on his 4.8m boat "Poppa
George," 40 km off the WA coast at about 8.30am.
After catching and releasing a 250kg blue marlin, he
knocked his GOPRO camera into the water and when he
reached down to grab it, he fell into the ocean. The boat
was in gear and moved quickly away from him. He was left
alone in the sea. He at first clung desperately to a
fishing line behind his unmanned boat - but eventually
the line snapped and there he was treading water in shark-
infested waters. He felt like "huge live bait."

He was rescued after six hours treading water in shark-infested
waters.

Anything is possible.

Well, here is an article by Windshuttle refuting much of the details in the movie.
I actually find him to be a good researcher and certainly would trust documentation over oral history any day.
Oral history is notoriously unreliable and reading testimony given in inquiries into land rights claims,you can see how different people from the same area give different versions of events.

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/history-wars/2010/05/holes-in-the-rabbit-proof-fence/

Dearest sweet Foxy,

So are you saying that you would believe anything ?

I have an Opera House, slightly used, good position, close to transport, going for a bargain, could be knocked down and replaced by tram sheds.

Love,

Joe

Dear Joe,

The following link may be of interest:

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/762

As Steele pointed out to you Windschuttle does
not refute the fact that this event took place.
Why do you?