I saw the movie, but never read the book--which sounds like it's wonderful.

 

From the Washington Post:

 

Australian author Doris Pilkington Garimara dies at 76

 

Doris Pilkington Garimara — who died April 10 in Perth, Australia, and was believed to be 76 — wrote perhaps the most gripping and personal narrative about the assimilation process. Her 1996 book, “Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence,” traced her mother’s escape at 14 from a government-approved native settlement and her audacious, 1,000-mile trek home through the harsh wilderness in western Australia.

 

Director Phillip Noyce’s acclaimed 2002 movie version of Ms. Pilkington’s book reverberated deeply. It was a crucial factor in then-Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s decision to issue a formal apology in 2008 for “laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on . . . our fellow Australians.”

 

 

Link

This sounded like an amazing true story of the journey three Aboriginal girls, removed from their families, but unfortunately the blurb on the back of the book did not seem to tally with the story: "After regular stays in solitary confinement, the three girls - scared and homesick - planned and executed a daring escape.." 

In the book the escape does not feature until chapter 8 out of 9, and the girls only arrive at the camp in chapter 7! 
The book is interesting and valuable in that it sets out the events that were replicated across Australia in 1931, written from the Aboriginal point of view. However the escape, told as the writer's mother had told it to her, lacks details of distance and is blurry about some of the events, shrouded as the telling was in the mists of time. The lack of measurements is because these are not used in the Aboriginal tongues so were not available, only some names of settlements and farms are given. 
In summary it is a valuable book, but not as enthralling as I had hoped or expected. 

This is an amazing book about a truly incredible journey by three young girls across Australia. It's not even very long, so there's absolutely no reason for anyone not to read it and find out for themselves. The first couple of chapters, which attempt to summarize the entire history of the children's aboriginal ancestors are the shakiest in the book, so hang on in till you get past them.

I do have a couple of comments on the synopsis given for this edition of the book:

Following an Australian government edict in 1931, black aboriginal children and children of mixed marriages were gathered up by whites and taken to settlements to be assimilated.

I'm not an expert on Australian history, but this book is explicit about the fact that the girls were removed from their families because they were mixed race. Aboriginal children from these girls' communities were not targeted. Actually, the contacts I have had with Australia tend to confirm the idea that mixed race children were particularly at risk of being institutionalized in missions and boarding schools. It would be a shame to overlook this detail of Australia's history.

After regular stays in solitary confinement, the three girls scared and homesick planned and executed a daring escape from the grim camp, with its harsh life of padlocks, barred windows, and hard cold beds.

Either I fail at comprehension, or Molly, Gracie and Daisy, having heard that the school was as described, escaped on their first day. As for planning... Molly basically just walked out and got on with it. She was that kind of young woman.

Best read in conjunction with the film, this memoir fills in details of the girls' trek that are not as explicit in the screen version. What the film provides is both a dynamism lacking in the book, and a broader context for why the Australian government would separate biracial children from their families. I was particularly fascinated by the expenditures made to recover three girls; no comparable manhunt would be mounted in our era for non-criminal escapees.It would be interesting to compare the rationales for the general removal of native children to boarding schools in different countries, particularly the covert reasoning. The film does a better job of identifying the more pernicious aims of the program.