Those Wild Rabbits

A century ago Australia was home to 10 billion rabbits, thriving in their adopted home. Storyteller Bruce Munday finds the rabbit saga irresistible - the naive hopes of the early settlers, the frustration, environmental damage, cost to agriculture, dreams shattered, and the lessons learned and ignored.

Those Wild Rabbits highlights not only the damage done but also Australia's missed opportunities for real rabbit control. It recognises the bush's paradoxical love affair with an animal that was at one time a significant rural industry and is still recalled with nostalgia. More importantly, it offers hope for a brighter future, making the case for continued research to drive the next rabbit-control miracle, because rabbit plagues of the past will become the future unless we capture the history and embrace the lessons.

Bruce grew up in Geelong with a burning ambition to play football for his beloved Cats.When that was not going to happen, he completed a PhD in physics and then spent four years researching the magnetoelastic properties of antiferromagnetic materials. Alas, he found that his penchant for the esoteric cut him off from many of his friends. So he moved into teaching where he had a captive audience.In 1974 he and wife Kristin bought a farm in the Adelaide Hills. There they raised sheep, cattle and three children, planted many trees and messed with rocks. When the kids left home Bruce established his own business as a communications consultant in natural resource management and discovered how much he enjoyed sharing stories with people living on the land - particularly those who love the land and want to conserve it.Bruce and Kristin sold the farm in 2017 and moved to the Aldinga Arts Eco Village where Bruce has continued to arrange stones.

A century ago Australia was home to 10 billion rabbits, thriving in their adopted home. Storyteller Bruce Munday finds the rabbit saga irresistible - the naive hopes of the early settlers, the frustration, environmental damage, cost to agriculture, dreams shattered, and the lessons learned and ignored. Those Wild Rabbits highlights not only the damage done but also Australia's missed opportunities for real rabbit control. It recognises the bush's paradoxical love affair with an animal that was at one time a significant rural industry and is still recalled with nostalgia. More importantly, it offers hope for a brighter future, making the case for continued research to drive the next rabbit-control miracle, because rabbit plagues of the past will become the future unless we capture the history and embrace the lessons.

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