Hi Chris, the Bilby Fence is at Currawinya National Park South of Eulo on the Hungerford Rd. South Western Qld just North of the border. It was built at a cost of $ 400.000 or $ 550.000 depends who you talk to and was finished in 2001. It is an electrified predator and feral animal proof netting fence six foot high with netting laying on the ground on the outside to prevent predators digging under and an outside flap of netting at the top that prevents anything climbing over by it swinging down under their weight. It is said to be 25 km long with some saying it fences in 21 sqr km. it was built for captive bred Bilbies to get a wild breeding colony back into the area where they were once found in good numbers. It was built with massive fundraising and large donations of fencing material from Cyclone, Waratah etc companies and many hours of voluntary labour including foreign backpackers. A great success with the Bilbies breeding in good numbers only to be wrecked when nobody thought to check the fence line to see if the netting had rusted out during the big rains and floods. The disaster was discovered in 2012 when it was found that cats had got in and had wiped out the colony, much to the dismay of those involved with the captive breeding and the years of fund raising, Save the Bilby etc. There is a sample of the fence at the Currawinya Shearing Shed for tourist to see but not even representatives from the companies that donated the material are allowed to the fenced area. I had a look at it when I went to see the massive flocks of thousands of Pelicans and Cormorants that nest on the lakes in the Park. Barney
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Hi All The kiwis have been trying out a similar idea with their “mainland island” program; fences tall, dug deep in, and fine-meshed, after they clear out possums, cats, dogs, stoats (not one of the better ideas in the biological control history), hedgehogs, and rats (not mice I think; the fence mesh is not that fine). There is one in Wellington, and its made a very visible difference; I used to live in Wellington until 2008 and am still there regularly, and there are now kakas, tui and other native birds all through the greater city area; I assume they forage widely but breed in the protected areas. Very expensive to set up and not cheap to maintain; and I doubt whether any of them are 21 square kilometres. But with the right species, they can really make a difference. There are tuatara and a fair number of the flightless and near flightless kiwi endemics in the Wellington reserve, breeding well. It would be no use for eagles, large owls, or other species that need a large range of their own; it could not support a breeding population. But for small insectivores, skinks an geckos; or birds like the kaka that are strong fliers and will range widely, but which are also capable of learning about safe areas (big parrots are smart birds) they can make a huge difference. Kim Kim Sterelny, School of Philosophy, Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University, Acton, 0200, ACT, Australia Kim.Sterelny@anu.edu.au or Kim.Sterelny@vuw.ac.nz 61-(0)2-6125-2886 ________________________________________ Sent: Thursday, 13 August 2015 6:12 PM Hi Chris, the Bilby Fence is at Currawinya National Park South of Eulo on the Hungerford Rd. South Western Qld just North of the border. It was built at a cost of $ 400.000 or $ 550.000 depends who you talk to and was finished in 2001. It is an electrified predator and feral animal proof netting fence six foot high with netting laying on the ground on the outside to prevent predators digging under and an outside flap of netting at the top that prevents anything climbing over by it swinging down under their weight. It is said to be 25 km long with some saying it fences in 21 sqr km. it was built for captive bred Bilbies to get a wild breeding colony back into the area where they were once found in good numbers. It was built with massive fundraising and large donations of fencing material from Cyclone, Waratah etc companies and many hours of voluntary labour including foreign backpackers. A great success with the Bilbies breeding in good numbers only to be wrecked when nobody thought to check the fence line to see if the netting had rusted out during the big rains and floods. The disaster was discovered in 2012 when it was found that cats had got in and had wiped out the colony, much to the dismay of those involved with the captive breeding and the years of fund raising, Save the Bilby etc. There is a sample of the fence at the Currawinya Shearing Shed for tourist to see but not even representatives from the companies that donated the material are allowed to the fenced area. I had a look at it when I went to see the massive flocks of thousands of Pelicans and Cormorants that nest on the lakes in the Park. Barney
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