The State Barrier Fence of Western Australia,[1] formerly known as the Rabbit-Proof Fence, the State Vermin Fence, and the Emu Fence, is a pest-exclusion fence constructed between 1901 and 1907 to keep rabbits, and other agricultural pests from the east, out of Western Australian pastoral areas.[2]
There are three fences in Western Australia: the original No. 1 Fence crosses the state from north to south, No. 2 Fence is smaller and further west, and No. 3 Fence is smaller still and runs east–west. The fences took six years to build. When completed, the rabbit-proof fence (including all three fences) stretched 2,023 miles (3,256km). The cost to build each kilometre of fence at the time was about $250 (equivalent to $42,000in 2022).[3]
When it was completed in 1907, the 1,139-mile (1,833km) No. 1 Fence was the longest unbroken fence in the world.[4]
Rabbits were introduced to Australia by the First Fleet in 1788.[5] They became a problem after October 1859, when Thomas Austin released 24 wild rabbits from England for hunting purposes, believing "The introduction of a few rabbits could do little harm and might provide a touch of home, in addition to a spot of hunting."[6]
With virtually no local predators, the rabbits became extremely prolific and spread rapidly across the southern parts of the country. Australia had ideal conditions for an explosion in the rabbit population, which constituted an invasive species.
By 1887, agricultural losses from rabbit damage compelled the New South Wales Government to offer a £25,000 reward (equivalent to $3,900,000in 2022) for "any method of success not previously known in the Colony for the effectual extermination of rabbits".[7] A Royal Commission was held in 1901 to investigate the situation. It determined to build a pest-exclusion fence.
Construction
Map of the original rabbit-proof fences in Western Australia.
The fence posts are placed 12ft (3.7m) apart and have a minimum diameter of 4in (100mm). There were initially three wires of 12+1⁄2gauge, strung 4in (102mm), 1ft 8in (0.5m), and 3ft (0.9m) above ground, with a barbed wire added later at 3ft 4in (1.02m) and a plain wire at 3ft 7in (1.1m), to make the fence a barrier against dingoes and foxes as well. Wire netting, extending 6in (150mm) below ground, was attached to the wire.
The fence was constructed with a variety of materials, according to the local climate and availability of wood. At first, fence posts were made from salmon gum and gimlet, but they attracted termites (locally known as white ants) and had to be replaced. Split white gum was one of the best types of wood used in the fence. Other timbers used were mulga, wodjil, native pine, and tea-tree, depending on what could be found close to where the fence was to be built. Iron posts were used where there was no wood. Most materials had to be hauled hundreds of kilometres from rail heads and ports by bullock, mule and camel teams.[8]
From 1901, the fence was constructed by private contractors. In 1904, the project became the responsibility of the Public Works Department of Western Australia, under the supervision of Richard John Anketell.[3] With a workforce of 120 men, 350 camels, 210 horses and 41 donkeys, Anketell was responsible for the construction of the greater part of No. 1 Fence and the survey of its last 70 miles (110km).[4]
Maintenance
Boundary rider's team at the 100-mile (160km) No. 1 Fence in Western Australia in 1926
Alexander Crawford took over the maintenance of the fence from Anketell as each section was finished; he was in charge until he retired in 1922.[4] The area inside the fence to the west became known as "Crawford's Paddock". The fence was maintained at first by boundary riders riding bicycles and later by riders astride camels. However, fence inspection was difficult from atop the tall animal. In 1910, a car was bought for fence inspection, but it was subject to punctured tyres. It was found the best way to inspect the fence was using buckboard buggies, pulled by two camels.
The camels were also used as pack animals, especially in the north. In the east, camels were used to pull drays with supplies for the riders. Camels were ideal for this as they could go for a long time without water. They were considered critical to the building and maintenance of the fence.
Crawford supervised four sub-inspectors, each responsible for about 500 miles (800km) of fence, and 25 boundary riders, who regularly patrolled 100-mile (160km) sections of fence. Due to frontier violence in the north of the state, a 300-mile (480km) section of No. 1 Fence was patrolled by riders who traveled in pairs.[9]
Crawford also was responsible for eliminating rabbits that had breached the fence. In the first year following the fence's completion, rabbit colonies were found and all members killed at several locations inside the fence. These included sites near Coorow, Mullewa, and Northampton.[9]
Following the introduction of myxomatosis to control rabbits in the 1950s, the importance of the rabbit-proof fence diminished.
Effectiveness
By 1902, rabbits had already been found west of the fence line that had been initially constructed. The Number 2 Rabbit Proof Fence was built in 1905 in order to stem their advance.[10] It held back the rabbits for many years, to such an extent that the Government Scheme for supplying rabbit netting, by extending long-term loans to farmers, was never applied to farmers west of that fence. The farmers between the two fences suffered from the ravages of the rabbits for many years, before they bred into plague form to spread out over the agricultural districts to the west of the No. 2 fence.[11]
Overall, as a long-term barrier to rabbits, the fences were a failure; even while construction was underway, rabbits were hopping into regions that the fences were intended to protect.[12]
1884 cartoon in response to a proposal to erect a rabbit-proof fence between New South Wales and Queensland.
Original caption: "Mr Stevenson, M.L.A., suggested that the Government should erect a wire fence along our New South Wales border in order to check the coming invasion of rabbits. The artist depicts the probable use the bunnies would make of the fence."
In 1907, Arthur Upfield, an Australian writer who had previously worked on the construction of No. 1 Fence, began writing a fictional story that explored a way of disposing of a body in the desert. Before the book was published, stockman Snowy Rowles, an acquaintance of the writer, carried out at least two murders and disposed of the bodies using the method described in the book.
The 1932 trial that followed the arrest of Rowles for murder was one of the most sensational in the history of Western Australia. Decades later, Terry Walker wrote a book about this called Murder on the Rabbit Proof Fence: The Strange Case of Arthur Upfield and Snowy Rowles (1993).[14] The events are now referred to as the Murchison Murders.
The dramatic film Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) is based on the book. In 2016, Englishwoman Lindsey Cole walked the fence from Moore River Settlement, 1,600 kilometres (990mi) through to Jigalong. She was met by Doris Garimara's daughter at the end of the walk in September 2016.[15]
↑ Walker, Terry Walker (1993). Murder on the Rabbit Proof Fence: The Strange Case of Arthur Upfield and Snowy Rowles. Hesperian Press. ISBN978-0-85905-189-7.
European rabbits were first introduced to Australia in the 18th century with the First Fleet, and later became widespread, because of Thomas Austin. Such wild rabbit populations are a serious mammalian pest and invasive species in Australia causing millions of dollars' worth of damage to crops. Their spread may have been enhanced through the emergence of strong crossbreeds.
Rabbit-Proof Fence is a 2002 Australian epic drama film directed and produced by Phillip Noyce. It was based on the 1996 book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara, an Aboriginal Australian author. It is loosely based on the author's mother Molly Craig, aunt Daisy Kadibil, and cousin Gracie, who escaped from the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, Western Australia, to return to their Aboriginal families. They had been removed from their families and placed there in 1931.
Everlyn Lee Marie Sampi is an Australian actress. She is of Bardi Australian Aboriginal and Scottish descent.
The rabbit-proof fence or pest-exclusion fence is one that crosses the state of Western Australia from north to south.
Burracoppin is a townsite on the Great Eastern Highway, east of Merredin in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.
Arthur William Upfield was an English-Australian writer, best known for his works of detective fiction featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte of the Queensland Police Force, a mixed-race Indigenous Australian. His books were the basis for a 1970s Australian television series entitled Boney, as well as a 1990 telemovie and a 1992 spin-off TV series.
The Murchison Murders were a series of three murders, committed by an itinerant stockman known as "Snowy" Rowles, near the rabbit-proof fence in Western Australia during the early 1930s. Rowles used the murder method that had been suggested by author Arthur Upfield in his then unpublished book The Sands of Windee, in which he described a foolproof way to dispose of a body and thus commit the perfect murder.
Doris Pilkington Garimara, also known as Doris Pilkington, was an Aboriginal Australian author.
Alfred Wernam Canning was an Australian surveyor. He is best known as the originator of the Canning Stock Route in Western Australia, a cattle track running 1,850 kilometres (1,150 mi) through remote desert country between Halls Creek and Wiluna. He also surveyed the route for the inaugural rabbit-proof fence.
The Martu (Mardu) are a grouping of several Aboriginal Australian peoples in the Western Desert cultural bloc.
The Public Works Department (PWD) was the State Government Agency of Western Australia, which was charged with providing and maintaining public infrastructure such as dams, water supplies, schools, hospitals, harbours and other public buildings. The department is no longer operational, having its responsibilities reassigned to other State Government Departments and corporate entities since 1985.
Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence is an Australian book by Doris Pilkington, published in 1996. Based on a true story, the book is a personal account of an Indigenous Australian family's experiences as members of the Stolen Generation—the forced removal of mixed-race children from their families during the early 20th century. It tells the story of three young Aboriginal girls: Molly, Daisy, and Gracie, who are forcibly removed from their families at Jigalong and taken to Moore River, but escape from the government settlement in 1931 and then trek over 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) home by following the rabbit-proof fence, a massive pest-exclusion fence that crossed Western Australia from north to south.
Jigalong is a remote Aboriginal community of approximately 333 people located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The traditional owners of the land are the Martu people.
Youanmi is an abandoned town in the Murchison region of Western Australia.
Balfour Downs Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located approximately 132 kilometres (82 mi) northeast of Newman, 88 kilometres (55 mi) east of Roy Hill and 108 kilometres (67 mi) southeast of Nullagine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. At 6,395 square kilometres (2,469 sq mi), it is among the largest cattle stations in Australia.
Sandstone Branch Railway was a branch railway line between Mount Magnet and Sandstone in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
Molly Kelly was an Australian Martu Aboriginal woman, known for her escape from the Moore River Native Settlement in 1931 and subsequent 1,600 km (990 mi) trek home with her half-sister Daisy Kadibil and cousin Gracie Cross. She was a member of the Stolen Generations, who were part-white, part-Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families by the Australian government. Her story was the inspiration for the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence and the film Rabbit-Proof Fence.
The Darling Downs–Moreton Rabbit Board fence is a pest-exclusion fence constructed between 1893 and 1997 to keep rabbits out of farming areas in Queensland, Australia. It is managed by the Darling Downs–Moreton Rabbit Board.
Goombi is a rural locality in the Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Goombi had a population of 56 people.
Daisy Kadibil was an Aboriginal Australian woman whose experiences shaped the 1996 book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, written by her niece Doris Pilkington Garimara and the subsequent 2002 film Rabbit-Proof Fence.
References
Broomhall, F.H. (1991). The Longest Fence in the World. Hesperian Press. ISBN0-85905-147-1.
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