WESTERN AUSTRALIA. — Rabbits, an introduced species in Australia, have long been considered pests. Since 21 rabbits were released for the purpose of recreational hunting on Christmas Day 1859 by Victorian farmer Thomas Austin, their numbers have increased exponentially.
Rabbits are responsible for widespread damage to the agricultural industry as well as to the environment, competing with native species for food and digging shallow burrows that destroy the deeper burrows of marsupials such as the bilby.
By the 1890s, rabbits had reached plague proportions across New South Wales and Victoria.
By 1896, they had even spread to Western Australia. As a result, the Western Australian Undersecretary for Lands sent surveyor Arthur Mason towards the southeast of the state to report on the extent of the problem.
Mason recommended the construction of a series of fences, one along the border with South Australia and another further west, to limit further spread of the pest.
A 1901 Royal Commission ordered a fence be built from the southern coast of Western Australia to Eighty Mile Beach in the northwest. Construction began that same year.
This fence, known as the No 1 Rabbit Proof Fence, ran for 1837 km, the longest line of unbroken fence in the world.
The fence utilised wooden posts, 12.5 gauge plain wires and wire netting, and extended 15cm into the soil, with 90cm of fencing exposed above ground.
Construction took six years, and during this time rabbits were located outside the No 1 Fence, necessitating the construction of two more fences. Rabbit Fence No 2 began at Point Ann on the southern coastline and joined No 1 Fence at Gum Creek, a distance of 1166km. Fence No 3, a mere 257 km in length, ran west from the coast north of Geraldton to meet Fence No 2.
Construction of the No 1 Rabbit-proof fence was completed at Port Hedland in the north on August 19, 1907.
Initially, the fence was patrolled and maintained by inspectors under the direction of the Chief Inspector of Rabbits, Alexander Crawford.
Although not as effective against the spread of rabbits as first envisioned, the fence still stands today, with sections being maintained by property owners and local councils.
