THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 73, 3 July 1942, Page 3

THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

BUNNIES' FUR AUSSIES' SLOUCH HATS NOW A VALUABLE INDUSTRY Kvcry slouch hat worn by an Australian soldier is made from the fur of about nine rabbit skins. Experiments have proved that for durability there is nothing to equal this fur. Thus, the rabbit is playing its part in Australia's war effort. Rabbit skins, and the fur from them, because of their light weight, will also make warm linings for greatcoats, and be used for caps, mittens, etc., for Australian and Allied troops who may be fighting in cold climates. Millions of rabbit skins are being used for military purposes,- and millions rrtore rabbits are consumed as food. In normal tijnes, the value of rabbit skins exported from Australia is about £2,000,000 a year. Rabbit skins, treated by modern dye chemists, arc also used extensively in the fur trade. Under the names of lapin and coney, the skin fur has been proved to stand hard wear. It seems that the Australian climate has toughened the libre. Truly "bunny" is not such a pest after all. llow Australia Got Its Rabbits Without any desire to reopen the controversy on the subject of his importation to Australia, it is a historical fact that the fir£t of his tribe, probably silver greys, arrived in the First Fleet. A census of livestock in the colony on May 1, 1788, n little more than three months after the establishment of the first settlement a Sydney Cove, disclosed five rabbits in New South Wales. Three of these belonged to Governor Phillip and the other two "to the officers and men of the detachment." In 1791 more rabbits were brought to Sydney from South Africa,, and there were many other importations before they achieved notoriety as a pest.