The State Barrier Fence of Western Australia, 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.
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 in 1907, the rabbit-proof fence stretched 2,023
miles. The cost to build the fences at the time was about £167 per mile.
When it was completed in 1907, the 1,139-mile No. 1 Fence was the longest
unbroken fence in the world. History
Rabbits were first introduced to Australia by the First Fleet in 1788 and
they become a problem when Thomas Austin released 24 wild rabbits for hunting
purposes in October 1859, saying that "the introduction of a few rabbits could
do little harm and might provide a touch of home, in addition to a spot of
hunting." The rabbits were extremely prolific
creatures and spread rapidly across the southern parts of the country. Australia
had ideal conditions for a rabbit population explosion.
By 1887, losses from rabbit damage compelled the New South Wales Government
to offer a £25,000 reward for "any method of success not previously known
in the Colony for the effectual extermination of rabbits". A Royal
Commission was held to investigate the situation in 1901.
Construction The fence posts are placed 12 ft apart,
and have a minimum diameter of 4 in. There were initially three wires of 12½
gauge placed at 4 in, 1 ft 8 in, and 3 ft above ground, with a barbed wire
added later at 3 ft 4 in and a plain wire at 3 ft 7 in to make the fence a
barrier for dingoes and foxes as well. Wire netting was placed on this, which
extended to 6 in below ground. The fence was constructed with a variety
of materials, according to the local climate and availability of wood. At
first salmon gum and gimlet tree wood were used, although these attracted
termites 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, and tea tree, based
on what wood could be found close to where the fence was to be built. Iron
was used in parts where there was no wood.
From 1901 the fence was constructed by private contractors, but in 1904 the
project became the responsibility of the Public Works Department of Western
Australia, under the supervision of Richard John Anketell. 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. Maintenance
Alexander Crawford took over the maintenance of the fence from Anketell
as each section was finished and remained in charge until he retired in
1922. 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 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 500 miles of fence, and 25
boundary riders who regularly patrolled 100-mile sections of fence. Due to
frontier violence in the north of the state, a 300-mile section of No. 1 Fence
was patrolled by riders in pairs. Crawford was responsible for eliminating
rabbits which had breached the fence. In the first year following the fences'
completion, rabbit colonies were found and destroyed at several locations
inside the fence, including sites near Coorow, Mullewa, and Northampton.
Following the introduction of myxomatosis to control rabbits in the
1950s, the importance of the rabbit-proof fence diminished.
Intersection with railway system No. 1 Fence intersected the railway
lines at: Eastern Railway near Burracoppin
Wyalkatchem: Southern Cross railway at Campion
Sandstone Branch Railway: just west of Anketell
Meekatharra – Wiluna railway: at Paroo No. 2 Fence intersected with most of the
Wheatbelt railway lines of Western Australia.
Elsewhere in Australia There is a rabbit-proof fence in
Queensland. Cultural references
In 1929, Arthur Upfield, an Australian writer who had previously worked on the
construction of No. 1 Fence, began writing a fictional story which involved
a way of disposing of a body in the desert. Before the book was published,
stockman Snowy Rowles, an acquaintance of the writer's, carried out at least
two murders and disposed of the bodies using the method described in the book.
The trial which followed in 1932 was one of the most sensational in the history
of Western Australia. 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.
Doris Pilkington Garimara's book, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, describes the
use of the fence in the 1930s by three Indigenous Australian girls to guide
their route back home to Jigalong. The girls, taken from their parents in
Western Australia as part of the Stolen Generations, escaped from the Moore
River Native Settlement where they were being held and walked back to their
family at Jigalong by following the rabbit-proof fence. The dramatic film
Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on the book. See also
Agricultural fencing Dingo Fence
Rabbits in Australia References
Broomhall, F.H.. The Longest Fence in the World. Hesperian Press. ISBN
0-85905-147-1. External links
Run Rabbit Run!, Australian Museums and Galleries Online
The State Barrier Fence of Western Australia, 1901–2001, National Library
of Australia The Rabbit Proof Fence, Library of West
Australian History At Australia’s Bunny Fence, Variable
Cloudiness Prompts Climate Study, The New York Times