Linda, I am interested in your statement that rabbits crossed the divide to enter Gippsland (the Maffra - Stratford district) in 1896. The Thorpdale - Narracan district was free of rabbits in the early days because of their inability to negotiate the swamps and forests of West Gippsland. My uncles have told me that the first rabbits arrived suddenly in 1914 (by which time their "distant" cousins had crossed the Nullabor :-)). I had assumed that they arrived from the west by a fairly direct route (from Geelong). However, after reading your message I have my doubts. Do you think that they may have arrived from the east - via NE Victoria, the Great Divide, Maffra, Traralgon and Morwell? It should have been easier for them to cross a river than a swamp. Walter Savige