A.W. Canning and H.S. Trotman, in 1901 started out from Burracoppin heading for Starvation Bay.
Distance 215 Miles. Little was known in the area. Click on learn more to see map.
Before this, Arthur Mason in 1896 was sent East on an expedition. To see how far the rabbits had come.
His party using camels trecked right out to the WA SA border to Boundary Dam. Here his Camels and most of their stores were stolen by Aborigines. They walked 160 miles back to Eucla. Surviving, by eating his pet dog.
In Longwood Victoria, they canned Rabbit. And exported 800,000 cans to London.
The Mount Gambier Rabbit and Meat Preserving Company opened works at Compton in 1897 where it operated for a little under 20 years, and at its height purchased about 4,000,000 rabbits a year.
The rabbits were moving…
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. 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.
Water. The key to success…
Without water, the use of horses to carry out the fence inspection was difficult. When camels were used, it was found that inspection of the fence was unsatisfactory from atop a beast, 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. 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.
Link to external map
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.
Old Sign at Cape Keraudren.
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