BOOK REPORT
By Jake Kan
#8
(1)
(2) The Australian government decided that the half-castes should go to school, where
they would learn how to be domestic servants and farm workers. Molly, Daisy, and
Gracie were sent to Moore River Native Settlement. A day after they arrived, they
escaped and at night, they slept in a rabbit hole. They saw a farm house and went and
asked for some food. Then they went in a different direction from the way people told
them, and they didn’t leave behind a lot of tracks because it was raining. People that
lived in the farmhouses gave the three runaways food, but they also reported back to
the police. The girls found the rabbit proof fence and followed it. The black tracker
and a few other people tried to find the girls, but they didn’t find them. A few days
later, they crossed the railway line near Mount Russel station. Gracie went to talk with
the people at the station, and a woman told her that their mothers have moved to
Wiluna. Gracie told Molly about it, and Molly tried to stop her from going. Molly
couldn’t stop her, and she watched Gracie walk towards the station. Molly and Daisy
carried on walking, and they arrived at a camp where one of their aunties lived. She
gave the two girls food and told them to travel with they cousin, Joey, to Jigalong.
They arrived at Jigalong, and by the next day, the camp was empty. They had
disappeared into the Western Desert, where the white man could not find them.
(3) Three half- caste girls were sent to a settlement, but they escaped, and started their
journey back to Jigalong.
(4) Not every decision may be accepted by the people, even though the people that
made the laws or rules think it is a good idea. People should be treated equally, and
they should be allowed to make their own decisions instead of the government or
other people telling them what to do by making laws.
(5) Protagonists: Molly, Daisy, and Gracie. They want to escape from the settlement,
and find their mothers.
Antagonists: Moodoo (the black tracker) and the people who want to “save” the
half-castes. They think the half-castes will die in the wilderness.
Primary characters: Molly, Daisy, and Gracie.
Secondary characters: Moodoo, Martha, Constable Riggs, and a half-caste
woman working in Mount Russel station.
(6) Indirect characterization-actions: Molly is brave. She escapes the settlement
with her two younger cousins, even though she knows no one has escaped very far,
and if caught, they’ll be locked in the “boob”.
Indirect characterization-other people’s reaction: Molly isn’t good at
persuading other people. Gracie doesn’t listen to Molly when she tries to persuade
her not to go to Wiluna.
Indirect characterization-speech: Molly is polite even though she started getting
education at the age of 14.
(7) Internal: Gracie doesn’t want to keep on walking.
External: Gracie wants to go to Wiluna to find her mother, but her cousin, Molly,
wanted to stop her from going, and told her that the woman is lying.
(8) Like most: They get to Jigalong safely.
Like least: Gracie didn’t listen to her older cousin, and got caught at Wiluna. She
never saw her sister and cousin again.
(9) If there wasn’t an unusually heavy rainy season in 1931, Molly and her cousins
would have a bigger chance of being caught, because there was no rain to wash away
their tracks. The black tracker would find the girls easily and they would be sent back
to the settlement.
(10) Yes, people would be inspired to fight against racial issues because the story is
about half-castes being sent away from their homeland, to a settlement in the cities.
The half-castes don’t want to be at the settlement, so they escape. People will try to
fight for the people that are treated differently from white people because most of the
times, they are treated more badly, and are forced to obey the way they’re treated.