Rabbits were introduced into Australia as a 'harmless' addition to hunting sport in 1859, when Victorian grazier Thomas Austin imported 24 rabbits from England and released them on his property. He said at the time:

"The introduction of a few rabbits could do little harm and might provide a touch of home, in addition to a spot of hunting."

The rabbits soon multiplied and spread throughout Victoria, New South Wales, southern Queensland and South Australia.

By 1894, they had advanced across the Nullarbor Plain and reached Western Australia’s border.

The increasing rabbit population impacted severely on farmers, with rabbits eating crops and pastures, and costing the farming community dearly.

The threat became so serious that a Royal Commission was held into the situation in 1901.

As a result, explorer and surveyor with the Lands and Survey Department, Alfred WernamCanning, examined the country under threat and determined a survey line for a barrier fence commencing at Burracoppin.

In late 1901, private contractors were enlisted to build a barrier against rabbits to stop them invading the State - and so the erection of the world’s longest fence began.

In August 1904, the fence project was handed over to the Public Works Department led by supervisor Richard John Anketell.

More than 400 men were employed as part of the labour gangs.

As construction proceeded, the advancing rabbits continued to make their way west. In an effort to stop these advances, two more adjoining fence lines were commissioned in 1904 and 1906.

Building the fence was a difficult task at the turn of the century, as transport and materials were crude.

Some 8,000 tonnes of materials were carried by ship and then railed to depots, before being hauled overland by horse, camel and donkey teams to the remote fence construction sites.

The fence was made of four plain wires and wire netting. The bottom section of netting was dipped in a hot coal tar and kerosene mix to stop the wire from rusting under the ground.

Fence posts were cut from trees adjacent to the fence line, but where there was no timber, steel posts were used.

Gates were installed every 34 kilometres (20 miles) to provide access for transport. Yard traps were also erected every eight kilometres (five miles), which were used to capture the rabbits by funnelling the animals along the fence line.

The Rabbit Proof Fence, including No.1, 2 and 3 fence lines, was completed in 1907 and stretched 3,256 kilometres (2,023 miles).

At that time, the cost of the construction of the fence line was about $250 per kilometre (£167 per mile).

The responsibility of maintaining the fence was handed to Acting Chief Inspector of Rabbits, Alexander Crawford, from the Department of Agriculture.

Mr Crawford’s team included four sub-inspectors and 25 boundary riders, who travelled the fence line using bicycles, camel buggies and horse drays and spent their nights in huts located every 48 kilometres (30 miles) along the fence.