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.
The rabbit-proof fence in 2005
Boundary rider's team at the 100-mile (160 km) No. 1 Fence in Western Australia in 1926
1884 cartoon in response to a proposal to erect a rabbit-proof fence between New South Wales and Queensland. Original caption: "Mr Stevenson, M.L.A., suggested that the Government should erect a wire fence along our New South Wales border in order to check the coming invasion of rabbits. The artist depicts the probable use the bunnies would make of the fence."
A pest-exclusion fence is a barrier that is built to exclude certain types of animal pests from an enclosure. This may be to protect plants in horticulture, preserve grassland for grazing animals, separate species carrying diseases from livestock, prevent troublesome species entering roadways, or to protect endemic species in nature reserves. These fences are not necessarily traditional wire barriers, but may also include barriers of sound, or smell.
Xcluder pest-exclusion fence around perimeter of Maungatautari
Photo of the Rabbit-proof fence in northern Australia, taken in 2005
The Dingo Fence near Coober Pedy
