Colonization
The reality of colonization still at hand as the story is set in 1931 Australia. We watch as three girls attempt to escape what they are told as their only way at having a life, which is indentured servitude. We see that Neville represents the white man's belief that only white people have a superior way in life, and by these girls being half breeds they can only have a life if they follow what he (the white colonizer) tells them to do.
Truth
Truth is a theme of this film in that Molly, Daisy and Gracie escape the internment camp. These three young girls simply won't stay in a place that is not there home, and for anyone to tell them that their life can only be if they leave home and do as they are told is not in their DNA. There is a yearning to be with your family and be raised by your mother and father and the girls journey represents this very human truth.
Injustice
This film's main theme is that of injustice. The young girls are stripped of their natural right to live free from the oppression of another's rule. They must time and time again endure the harsh reality that they may be captured any day and taken to a camp to be trained for "service." No person has the right to lord over another man's free will, to do so is injustice and to do so knowingly is deplorable.
Stolen Generation
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were removed from their families. This children removal took place between1909-1969; ended in the 1970s. Governments, churches, and welfare bodies took Aboriginal children away from their families without consent. These children were then brought up in institutions or fostered out to white families. It happened in all parts of Australia, e.g. in New South Wales, on government controlled reserves. The aim was to civilize Aboriginal children who were then expected to grow into domestic and farming work.
Racism/ “Breeding out color”
Mollie, Daisy, and Gracie are half-white Aboriginal children. A. O. Neville believes that Aboriginal children with “white blood” should be raised without their Aboriginal culture or identity. He believes that so-called blackness can be “bred out”. That is partly why they take the children to the Moore River Settlement. They concentrate on half-caste children to try and get rid of their native heritage by getting rid of their “color”. They want to absorb all non- full-blood Aborigines into the white community by taking children away from their families at a very young age by force. This is significant racism created to do away with the blackness of Aboriginal people. The idea of “breeding out color” is the embodiment of white supremacy.
