The
Dingo Fence or
Dog Fence is a
pest-exclusion fencethumb|280px|Xcluder pest-exclusion fence around perimeter of [[Maungatautari Restoration Project|Maungatautari]]A pest-exclusion fence is built to exclude certain types of animal pests from an enclosure...
that was built in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep
dingoThe Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
es out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. It is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence. It stretches 5614 km (3,488 mi) from
JimbourJimbour is a town in the northern Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia. The town is located in the Western Downs Region Local Government area, west of the state capital, Brisbane...
on the Darling Downs near
DalbyDalby is a town in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, and is located approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane, at the junction of the Warrego, Moonie and Bunya Highways. Dalby is the administrative centre of the Western Downs Region and the centre of Australia's richest...
through thousands of kilometres of arid land ending west of
Eyre peninsulaEyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...
on cliffs of the
Nullarbor PlainThe Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...
above the
Great Australian BightThe Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.-Extent:...
(131° 40’ E), near Nundroo. It has been partly successful, though dingoes can still be found in parts of the southern states. Although the fence has helped reduce losses of sheep to predators, this has been countered by holes in fences found in the 1990s to which dingo offspring have passed through and due to increased pasture competition from
rabbitIn Australia, rabbits are a serious mammalian pest and are an invasive species. Annually, European rabbits cause millions of dollars of damage to crops.-Effects on Australia's ecology:...
s and
kangarooA kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
s.
Geography
The 2500 km (1,553 mi) section of the fence in Queensland is also known as the
Great Barrier Fence or
Wild Dog Barrier Fence 11. It is administered by the
Department of Natural Resources and WaterThe Department of Natural Resources and Water is a defunct Queensland Government department. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander matters, Climate Change Policy and Science, Commercial Forestry, Commercial Water Services, Land , Native Title, Natural Resource Management , Catchment Management,...
. The Wild Dog Barrier Fence staff consists of 23 employees, including two person teams which patrol a 300 km (186 mi) section of the fence once every week. There are depots at Quilpie and
RomaRoma is a town in the western Darling Downs area of Queensland, Australia, by rail WNW of Brisbane. It is situated at the junction of the Warrego and Carnarvon highways...
.
This joins the
Queensland Border Fence, which stretches for 394 km (245 mi) westwards along the border with
New South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, into the
Strzelecki DesertThe Strzelecki Desert is located in the Far North Region of South Australia, southwest Queensland and western New South Wales. It is positioned in the northeast of the Lake Eyre Basin, and north of the Flinders Ranges. Two other deserts occupy the Lake Eyre Basin—the Tirari Desert and the...
. The fence passes the point where the three states of Queensland, New South Wales and
South AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
meet (Cameron Corner). At this point, it connects with the
South Australian Border Fence, which runs for 257 km (160 mi) southwards along the border with New South Wales. It then joins a section known as the
Dog Fence in South Australia, which is 2225 km (1,383 mi) long.
Physical design
The fence is 180 cm (5.9 ft) high made of wire mesh, and extends for 30 cm (0.984251968503937 ft) underground. The fence line on both sides is cleared to a 5 m (5.5 yd) width.
Steel fence postA steel fence post, also called a T-post, a Y-post, Star Post or waratah, is a type of fence post or picket. They are made of steel and are sometimes manufactured using durable rail steel. They can be used to support various types of wire or wire mesh. The end view of the post creates an...
s are spaced every 9 m (9.8 yd). Sheep and cattle stations in Australia protected by the fence are astoundingly large. While varying in size, some stations can be larger than some small European countries. One station alone in South Australia lost over 11,000 sheep in a year due to dingo attacks before the completion of the fence. As recently as 1991, one station lost 3000 sheep in a year. Sheep farmers fought back by using poisoning, shooting, and eventually constructing the longest fence in the world. Aerial poison bait drops are still used today.
Parts of the Dingo Fence are lit at night by 86 mm (3.4 in)
cold cathodeA cold cathode is a cathode used within nixie tubes, gas discharge lamps, discharge tubes, and some types of vacuum tube which is not electrically heated by the circuit to which it is connected...
fluorescent lampA fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluoresce, producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp converts electrical power into useful...
s which are alternately red and white. They are powered by long life batteries which are charged by photovoltaic cells during the day. A series of gates allow vehicles to pass through the fence.
The fence is held together by
GrippleA Gripple is a device used to join and tension wire, and also to terminate and suspend wires and wire ropes, and to support false ceilings, cable baskets, and similar items. They are manufactured in Sheffield, England by Gripple Ltd...
s.
History
The earliest pest exclusion fences in Australia were created to protect small plots of cropland from the predation by marsupials. In the 1860’s and 1870’s, introduced rabbit populations began to spread rapidly across southern Australia. By 1884, a rabbit proof fence was built. Having been unsuccessful at keeping rabbits out, and more successful at keeping out pigs,
kangarooA kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
s,
emuThe Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
s and
brumbiesA Brumby is a free-roaming feral horse in Australia. Although found in many areas around the country, the best-known brumbies are found in the Australian Alps region in south-eastern Australia. Today, most of them are found in the Northern Territory, with the second largest population in Queensland...
, and as more sheep farms were established, the interest for a dingo-proof barriers increased enough to where it became a government funds were being used to heighten and expand the fence. In 1930, an estimated 32,000 km of dog netting in Queensland alone was being used on top of rabbit fences. Prior to 1948, the idea of a Dingo Barrier Fence Scheme had not come into fruition as a statewide project for which annual maintenance and repair were kept. Since this time, there have been pushes to move away from a method of barrier-exclusion to complete distinction of the dingo and wild-dog cross-breeds. Poisoning the species with compound 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate)baits has been seen as a much cheaper alternative than fence maintenance. A compromise in the form of the continued use of poison and the shorting of the fence from its previous length of over 8000 km has been made.
Environmental impact
It seems that there are fewer kangaroos and emus on the north western side of the fence where the dingoes are, suggesting that the dingoes' presence has an impact on the populations of those animals.
It has also been suggested that the larger kangaroo populations inside the fence have been caused by the lack of dingo predation, and competition for food leads to lower sheep stocking rates than would be possible without the fence.
Believed to have been introduced 5000 years ago, the dingo’s status as a native or introduced species in Australia has been a controversy. According to Dr. Mike Letnic, of the University of Sydney, Australia’s top predator, the dingo has an important role in maintaining the balance of nature and that reintroducing or existing dingo populations could increase biodiversity across more than 2 million square kilometer of Australia (Avolia 2009). Where dingoes had been exterminated, Dr. Letnic found increased abundances of introduced red foxes and herbivores, while small native mammals and grasses were lost. Today, dingoes are legally classified as vermin and carry a bounty of $20 AUS ($19 USD) a head. Rewards for dingoes caught on the inside (southeast) of the fence can be upwards of $500 AUS.
[references?]
Although the fence has helped reduce the loss of sheep to predators, the exclusion of nature’s keeper has allowed for increased pasture competition from rabbits, kangaroos and emus. The use of poison is a common practice in Australia by lacing waterholes with chemicals.
Today, the rate at which
feral camelThousands of the two main species of Australian feral camels, mostly dromedaries but also some bactrian camels, were imported into Australia during the 19th century for transport and construction as part of the colonisation of the central and western parts of Australia. Motorised transport replaced...
are smashing down sections of the fence is fast increasing in Southern Australia. Plans for restructuring the Dog fence to be taller and electric are under process.
See also
- Agricultural fencing
In agriculture, fences are used to keep animals in or out of an area. They can be made from a wide variety of materials, depending on terrain, location and animals to be confined...
- Rabbit-proof fence
The State Barrier Fence of Western Australia, formerly known as the No. 1 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...
- Temporary fencing
Temporary Fence is used where building a permanent fence is either impractical or unneeded. Temporary fencing is used when an area needs barriers for the purposes of public safety or security, crowd control, theft deterrent, or equipment storage. Its most common use is as construction hoarding for...