This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The 19th-century pastoralist Thomas Austin was homesick. He yearned for the pastimes of his home in England—especially rabbit hunting.
He asked his family to send him some rabbits. On Christmas Day in 1859, around two dozen wild and domestic rabbits arrived in Australia. Delighted, Austin released them on his Barwon Park estate near Geelong.
A member of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, Austin was among many working to bring European animal species to Australia. Of his efforts, he would later write: "The introduction of a few rabbits could do little harm and might provide a touch of home, in addition to a spot of hunting." Domestic rabbits first came to Australia with the First Fleet. But these introductions were domestic rabbits and didn't establish.
Austin's rabbits fared differently, as they were from wild genetic stock and much better suited to establishing self-sustaining populations. These rabbits began one of the most devastating biological invasions in Australia's history. Rabbits, after all, breed like rabbits.
It didn't take long for rabbits to go from desirable to undesirable. In the 1950s, CSIRO scientists began releasing biocontrols—viruses lethal to rabbits. Rabbit numbers are now estimated at around 200 million, vastly lower than a century ago.
Even so, rabbits are resilient. They remain one of Australia's most widespread and damaging invasive species—perhaps even the worst. As rabbits spread across the continent, their numbers grew to plague proportions.
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