The Rabbit Plague
Warren, New South Wales
One of my strongest childhood memories is standing on the front seat of my grandfather’s car watching the hundreds, perhaps thousands of ra
bbits on the road ahead. We were near the hospital, it was dark and they were caught in the headlights. Some darted across the road, others just stood and stared. My grandfather swore he managed to swerve and miss them all.
It started, according to Brennan and White, with twelve wild rabbits imported on the clipper ‘Lightning’ in 1859 and released on Barwon Park near Geelong, Lord knows why! By 1950 there were 600 million on them.
Six or eight rabbits ate as much as one sheep so it was them or us. One Warren landholder claims to have trapped 4000 in one night.
I wonder if my grandfather really did try that hard to swerve.
Keep the Billy Boiling; R M Brennan, G White, 1980
Photo: F J Halmarick, smh.com