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Domestic rabbits were first brought into Australia with the First Fleet. In 1859, Thomas Austin released 24 wild rabbits at his Barwon Park property near Geelong in Victoria for the purpose of hunting. The rabbits spread quickly, travelling at rates of up to 100 kilometres per year through natural migration. By 1900, rabbits had reached the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
It soon became evident that the rabbits posed a significant threat to the environment, destroying native habitat which contributed to the demise of many native marsupial species, such as the Bilby and the Bandicoot.
As a result, Queensland introduced the Rabbit Nuisance Bill 1878, and later the Rabbit Boards Act 1896 which empowered Rabbit Boards to erect fences preventing the incursion or migration of rabbits.
Unfortunately, by the time it was introduced, the population of rabbits had become pervasive across a wide area. More than 47,000 kilometres of fence, mostly erected by members of the community, was required to contain the rabbits under nine separate Rabbit Board districts.
The fences required constant maintenance and regular examinations by appointed inspectors. Today, the job of overseeing the fences is the responsibility of the Darling Downs-Moreton Rabbit Board.
It remains illegal in Queensland to keep a rabbit as a pet because of the potential threat they pose to the environment.
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 | Mr H. Chatterton, Superintendent of the Mitchell Rabbit Board, starts out on a regular inspection of rabbit-proof fences in his district, published in The Queenslander journal, 1904
Queensland State Archives Item ID 435741
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