Bunny Power

What has four legs, a white fluffy tail, weighs about one kilo, and can move an entire town 4km inland and up 100m?

That’s right, the humble feral rabbit. The introduction of the European rabbit had a devastating effect on the vegetation around the township created to serve the Eucla telegraph station. Unfortunately for the town, it was built on the coast behind the dunes. With the arrival of the rabbit, the dunes were completely denuded of vegetation and the once stable dunes began a steady march inland.

As a child I remember hearing about the town being consumed by moving sand. I wasn’t aware that rabbits were the cause. Pretty much all that remains visible now is the top half of the telegraph station, and a small amount of one other structure.

The arrival of myxomytosis, and later the calicivirus seems to have eliminated the rabbits from the area. The vegetation is coming back and the dunes are again apparently stable. All of this came too late to save the town. It is now safely inland at the top of the escarpment.

 

Not a bad effort for a humble fur ball!