Rants of a Rebecca

Due to the rough conditions

Hi Wall tiles, and other non decorative ceramics. Well in comments to my last post, Hillbilly Mom asked if there were any fences in Australia. Well Hillbilly Mom, I'm glad you asked, because on todays adventure, we are going to another website, where we are stealing heaps of their content, for a posting here. It is a fascinating story of the commonly named Rabbit Proof Fence, but to not breach any copywrite laws concerning the film of the same name, we are going to use the offical name of State Barrier Fence. (Rebecca Comments in italics)

In 1896, Arthur Gregory Mason reported that rabbits were at least two hundred miles past the South Australian border and inside Western Australia at the town of Eucla. His recommendation to the government was to build a rabbit proof fence. Nothing was done about the fence until 1901, because they were busy with a few other things at the time, like footy and cricket. Seven years of hard work followed - gangs of men, teams of horses, mules, camels, wagons, carts, picks and shovels, and a lot of sweat and tired muscles. When the fence was completed it was the longest fence in the world, stretching from Starvation Boat Harbour, just west of Esperance in the south, to Wallal on the 80 Mile Beach in the north west. A job well done, except for the fact that; Even before completion, the rabbits were past the fence and work had begun on Fences No.2 and 3. By 1908 the three fences were complete, over 3,000km of fenceline in total! Although the construction of the fences was finished, someone was needed to patrol and maintain them. Alex Crawford was appointed the first Chief Inspector of Rabbits and was required to inspect and maintain the fences. Everything inside the fence became known, jokingly, as Crawford's Paddock. Everything outside of the fence was referrred to as FREEDOM! Western Australia was a harsh place back then, and in some towns today, things have gone backwards. Inspecting the fence was an immense task. Crawford had many work parties to assist him, but the country was rough and in many areas water was scarce or non-existent.

Without water, the use of horses to carry out the fence inspection was difficult. Also the horses found it difficult to write down information on the state of the fence, due to not having an opposable thumb. When camels were used, it was found that inspection of the fence was unsatisfactory from atop a beast, these beasts were also referred to as Crawfords wives, so bicycles were given a go - a short lived experiment due to the rough conditions and many flat tyres!

In 1910, a motor vehicle was purchased to carry out the inspection, but was also to prove unsatisfactory, due to there not being a good enough sound system in the car, also fluffy dice were at least fifty years off being invented. After many punctures and broken springs it had to be towed slowly back to camp by camels! In the end the only workable solution for the inspection teams were buckboard buggies pulled by pairs of camels. Despite the best efforts to stop the rabbits at the barrier fence, all was to fail. Erosion under the fences, holes in the wire and gates left open allowed rabbits to continue their movement west into the fertile agricultural areas. Ten rabbits could eat as much as one sheep. In their hundreds of thousands they ate out pasture, ring-barked trees and devoured crops.

So there you have it Hillbilly Mom, proof that we do have a couple of fences here in the land of Oz. Thanks for writing to us here at the Leyand Brothers err, I mean Rants of a Rebecca. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures, next time we see you. Blog Out HooRoo Rebecca

posted by Rebecca @ 11/01/2005 11:01:00 am