Rabbit-proof fence

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Photo of the Rabbit proof fence, taken in 1927

For the movie, see Rabbit-Proof Fence (film)

The State Barrier Fence of Western Australia^[4], formerly known as the No. 1 Rabbit-Proof Fence, the State Vermin Fence and the Emu Fence, is a barrier initially constructed between 1901 and 1907 to keep rabbits and other agricultural pests out of Western Australian pastoral areas. There are three fences; the original No. 1 Fence, which crosses the state from north to south, the No. 2 Fence which is smaller and further west, and the smaller east-west running No. 3 fence. The fences took six years to build and when completed in 1907, the Rabbit-Proof Fence (encompassing all three fences) stretched 3,256 kilometres (approximately 2,023 miles). The cost at the time was £337,841. The No. 1 fence runs 1,833 km (1,139 miles) from Wallal on the Eighty Mile Beach south to Jerdacuttup in the Ravensthorp Shire.

As depicted in the film Rabbit-Proof Fence, based on the book Molly's Daughter by Doris Pilkington Garimara, the fence was used in the 1930s by three Indigenous Australian girls for their route home in Jigalong away from forced captivity at the Moore River Native Settlement.

1 History of the fence
2 Failure of the first fence
3 Construction
4 Rabbits in Australia
5 The fence in Australian culture
6 See also
7 References

[edit] History of the fence

Map of the State Barrier Fence of Western Australia. Fence no. 1 (red), no. 2 (green), no. 3 (purple)

Rabbits were first brought into Australia by the First Fleet. They were not released into the wild until 1859, when Victorian grazier Thomas Austin imported 24 specimens from England and released them on his Victorian farm. At the time he had stated:

"The introduction of a few rabbits could do little harm and might provide a touch of home, in addition to a spot of hunting."^[1]

By 1894 rabbits had spread across the entire Australian mainland. Rabbits were discovered in Western Australia at Fowlers Bay in 1891, and later at Eyres Patch in 1896. The Western Australian Under Secretary of Lands sent Arthur Mason to see if there were any rabbits in the south eastern part of the state. He reported that rabbits had reached Eucla near the Western Australian border, and also 200 miles inside the border at Twilight Cove, near Esperance. Mason advised that a fence be built to keep the rabbits out along the border with South Australia. In 1901 a Royal Commission decided to build a fence from Eighty Mile beach on the north west coast to the south coast. The task of surveying the line for the fence was given to Alfred Canning. He began the survey from the south coast and ended at Wallal in the North West.

[edit] Fence No. 1

Fence #1 starting point

Construction began in December 1901. The No 1 Rabbit Proof Fence was completed in 1907, running from Starvation Harbour to near Cape Keraudren. When it was completed it was known as the Barrier Fence. The construction of a large part of the fence was the responsibility of Richard Anketell, who also surveyed the last seventy miles of the fence, which took from 20 August 1904 to 30 September 1907. In this time, he had 120 men, 210 horses, 41 donkeys and 350 camels.

[edit] Fence No. 2

Before the fence had even been completed, rabbits had made their way past the fence. Rabbits had been found west of the line in 1902. Two more fences were begun, Fence No. 2 begun in 1905, which is further west, starting from a point near Bremer Bay in the south. It is 1166 km (724 miles) long starting from Point Ann on the south coast, going to Cunderdin, 150 km east of Perth, it joined the first fence at Gum Creek near Murchison. There were not many rabbits west of the Number 2 fence until the 1920s.

[edit] Fence No. 3

Fence No. 3 which is a shorter east-west fence running from near the Zuytdorp Cliffs north of Kalbarri to meet with the No. 2 fence. The construction of all the fences was completed by 1908.

[edit] Maintenance

Boundary rider’s team at the 100 mile No. 1 fence in Western Australia in 1926

Alexander Crawford was responsible for the maintenance of the fence after taking over from Anketell when the fence was finished in 1907, and remained in charge until he retired in 1922. He was appointed Chief Inspector of Rabbits, and the area inside the fence to the west had been known jokingly as "Crawford's Paddock". The fence was maintained at first by boundary riders riding bicycles, and later by riders on top of camels. However inspection of the fence was difficult on the top of the tall animal. In 1910 a car was bought to do the inspection of the fence, but did not work after getting punctured tyres. It was found the best way to inspect the fence was using buckboard buggies which were pulled by two camels.

The camels were used as pack animals, especially in the north, while in the south, 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, and it has been suggested that the fence could not have been built or maintained without the use of camels.

In addition to Crawford, there were four sub-inspectors, each responsible for about 800km of fence, and twenty-five boundary riders who regularly patrolled 160km sections of fence. Due to frontier violence in the north of the state, a 500km section of the No.1 fence was patrolled by riders in pairs.^[1]

Crawford was also responsible for eliminating rabbits which had breached the fence. In the first year following the completion of the fences, colonies were found and destroyed near several locations inside the fence, including Coorow, Mullewa and Northampton.^[2]

Following the introduction of Myxomatosis to control rabbits in the 1950s the importance of the Rabbit Proof Fence diminished.

[edit] Failure of the first fence

The fence did not stop the rabbits from moving westward through the first fence. There were parts of the fence which eroded underneath, holes in the wire developed and sometimes gates would be left open which enabled the rabbits to pass through it. Following the First World War there was a plague of rabbits in farmland in Western Australia. Farmers had to use individual fences around their paddocks, and poison baits, fumigation machines, and trappers or even school children trapping rabbits for pocket money; rabbit skins being valuable during the Great Depression. Later, "warren ripping" was used with a tractor or truck using a plough over a rabbit's warren to destroy rabbit tunnels.

[edit] Construction

Posts were placed at twelve feet apart. Posts were to have a minimum diameter of 4 inches. There were three wires of 12½ gauge placed at 4", 1'8" and 3' above ground, with a barbed wire added later at 3'4" and a plain wire at 3'7" to make the fence a barrier for dingoes and foxes as well. Wire netting was placed on this, which extended to 6 inches below ground.

The fence was constructed with different materials due to the local climate, and availability of wood. At first salmon gum and gimlet wood was used, although these attracted white ants and had to be replaced. Split white gum was one of the best types of wood used in the fence. Others used were mulga, wodjil, pine, jam and Tea tree, based on where it could be found close to where the fence was to be built. Iron was used in parts where there was no wood.

[edit] Rabbits in Australia

A European Rabbit in Australia

Main article: Rabbits in Australia

Rabbits were introduced into Australia with the First Fleet, although the plagues of rabbits are considered to date to the rabbits released by Thomas Austin in 1859. Rabbits are responsible for serious erosion problems as they eat native plants which would have retained soil. One eighth of all mammalian species, and many species of plants, in Australia are now extinct due in a large part to the rabbit infestation.

The project is related to but separate from the Dingo Fence.

[edit] The fence in Australian culture

In 1929 Arthur Upfield, an Australian writer, began writing a fictional story which involved a way of disposing of a body in the desert. He had previously worked on the construction of the No. 1 fence. Before the book was published, stockman Snowy Rowles, an acquaintance of the writer, carried out at least two murders and disposed of the bodies in the method described in the book. The trial which followed in 1932 was one of the most sensational in the history of Western Australia. ^[3] A book was published about the incident called Murder on the Rabbit Proof Fence: The Strange Case of Arthur Upfield and Snowy Rowles. The incident is now referred to as The Murchison Murders.

The film Rabbit-proof Fence (2002), based on the 1996 book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara, tells the story of three young Aboriginal Australian girls who, in 1931, were taken from their parents in Western Australia as part of the Stolen Generation. They escaped from the mission where they were being held at Moore River, just north of Perth, and returned to their family at Jigalong by following the rabbit-proof fence. Pilkington's mother, Molly, was one of the three girls, and she based her book on Molly's recollection of events. However, the accuracy of the story has been questioned by former politicians such as Peter Howson [5] and conservative writers such as Andrew Bolt. Nevertheless, the film was well-received by audiences and film critics, winning the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film in 2002, and winning the audience award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.