This book is about one of the very dark chapters of Australian Aboriginal history. The "Aboriginal Protection Act" of 1897 allowed the authorities "to cause every Aboriginal within any district [...] to be removed to, and kept within the limits of, any reserve". In addition, article 31 allowed them to provide "for the care, custody, and education of the children of Aboriginals" and prescribed "the conditions on which any Aboriginal or half-caste children may be apprenticed to, or placed in service with, suitable persons".

Children as young as babies were forcibly taken from their families to be placed in girls and boys homes, foster families or missions. At the age of 18 they were 'released' into white society, often scarred for life by their experiences.

Today these Aboriginal people are collectively known as the 'Stolen Generations' because it was not just one generation which was affected by children being taken away. Many of these people are still searching for their families even today.

This is the true story of three girls, Molly, Gracie and Daisy, written years later by one of their daughters, Doris Pilkington. Molly, Gracie and Daisy are "half-caste", (actually I really dislike that term), mixed-race Aboriginal children living together with their family of the Mardu people at Jigalong, Western Australia until a constable, a "Protector" in the sense of the Act, comes to take the three girls away with him. The girls are placed in the Moore River Native Settlement north of Perth, some 1,600 kilometres away from their home. Most children this was done to never saw their parents again. Thousands are still trying to find them.

This story is different. The three girls manage to escape from the torturing and authoritarian rule of the settlement's head. Guided by the rabbit-proof fence, which, at that time ran from north to south through Western Australia, they walk the long distance back to their family.

The book was made into a film "Rabbit Proof Fence" in 2002, and directed by Philip Noyce.

In February of this year the new Labour Prime Minister of Australia made a public apology to the Aboriginal people.