Hi Walter and List, >It is stated in one paragraph: >"The rabbit did not spread naturally across Australia. Its social structure >is such that only at the point of a population collapse at the brink of >starvation will the young bucks and subordinate does leave to establish >themselves elsewhere. >I wonder if we are giving the ancestors of the Gippsland rabbits undue >credit for their enterprise in overcoming such daunting obstacles as the >Great Dividing Range, the Gippsland rivers and/or the Moe and Kooweerup >Swamps. The rabbits may have been given a helping hand by (kindly?) >trappers and sportsmen. I don't think this was such a case for Gippsland, as the spread of them slowly across Gippsland was chronicled. But it explains why the spread WAS so slow, which I couldn't understand. By the time they reached Gippsland, one of the later areas to be colonised, people knew they were a problem, not a welcome addition, so I think the sportsman phase would have been earlier. But then, there were the people in the Depression of the thirties who were very thankful for the rabbit, as that was all that kept them alive. Both trapping as a form of income (at certain parts of the year skins were worth more than carcasses) and for something to eat. Still rabbiting on Linda Barraclough Briagolong List Owner: AUS-VIC-GIPPSLAND email: kapana@netspace.net.au http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~surreal/AVG/