The
Dog Fence
Located about 15 km north-east of Coober Pedy is the
longest continual construction in the world, ‘The Dog Fence’, stretching
some 5,400 kms. The fence starts east of Surfer’s Paradise in Queensland
and winds it way north of Ceduna in the Great Australian Bight and is two
and a half times longer than the Great Wall of China.It all started when
farmers built vermin fences to protect their livestock from the dingoes (the
Australian native dogs). However, this did not work due to the maintenance
involved, so one long continuous fence was built. After the World War II, in
1946, a single-line dog fence was established. There are mainly cattle on the
north side of the fence, as cattle graziers are able to handle the dingoes to a
certain degree. On the south side is a predominately sheep livestock. The main
problems that the dog fence faces, are from the camels that can trample the
fence, allow the dingoes through.
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