The Dingo Fence
Wednesday, 4th April 2007 by James Turnbull
It's probably as long as the Great Wall of China, but up until recently I had never heard of what could be the longest man made object ever - The Great Dingo Fence of Australia!
Erected in the 1885 to keep Dingos and other wild dogs out of the South eastern Australia, the fence stretches right across Australia and is at least 5,000km long. The fertile land in the south is used for sheep breeding, but the Dingos had a habit of eating the sheep so had to be kept out.
Although it is only 6 feet tall, you can make out the path of the fence across Australia due to the presence of maintenance tracks which run along both sides. In our thumbnail shot we see Cameron's corner, where the Dingo fence joins the tri-border of Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.
Despite the fence's age it has never been officially surveyed, so an exact path is hard to pin down. Google Earth Forum user A185F has created a placemark file which gives you a rough idea of the fence's route and its enormous scale.
Updated: It's not clear exactly how long the fence is, and how it compares to the great wall. So, for now, we'll just say it's really, really long.
Wikipedia: Dingo Fence
Thanks: WynRichards & A185F
According to Wikipedia, the Great Wall of China is 6,352 km long. So the Dingo Fence is actually a bit shorter (and not twice as long).
This was originally designed to keep out rabbits, and was featured in a wonderful movie a few years ago called Rabbit-Proof Fence. See it if you can.
Rabbitprooffence…EXCELLENT but incredibly sad movie.
@Ocean: Hmm, good point, but I can’t find any conclusive statement on it’s length. I’ve updated the post.
@ocean all of wikipedias stuff is submitted by average joes. its not regulated so how can u say that according to wikipedia some one else is wrong when wikipedia could be wrong? ….just go look up elephants some time and tell me how many colbert saved well….im off to make the fence longer….
Bear in mind that the people whose lives Rabbit Proof Fence are supposed to be based on have rejected it as a fictionalised distortion. Aboriginal children were taken out of abusive situations where they would not otherwise have survived, often placed in the care of churches where they experienced charity previously unknown.
Also keep in mind that the rabbit-proof fence is a different fence, in a different area of the country. Also slightly shorter, at “just” a bit over 3,200 km.
No matter what is said… it’s a really long fence… bet it was real fun to put up then too..
Though I take great pleasure roaming around vast tracts of the australian outback in GM – it makes me wonder why I can’t do the same for most of Tuscany, for example, or Kent, both still low resolution. There’s not really that much to see in this area.
What about the Trans-Siberian Railroad “from Moscow to Vladivostok, is over 9288 kilometers”. That is the first thing that came to mind. There may be a longer manmade object.
bloody HELL, a fence that long is bound to screw with the ecosystem!
one godam long fence, would be good if scotland had a fence like this to keep the english out. :p
Hi there, I would just like to add, that I have ridden my motorbike along there a few times, and It is definatly I fence to keep the rabbits out. The dingos are not a threat. They tend to be very tame, and more scavengers than hunters.
Maybe you can do some quick research next time you post a picture, rather than just posting a nice picture and some words that might not be true at all.
Thanks for future accuracy, Mike.
The “fence” between England and Scotland was in place once. Hadrian’s wall I believe it was called…
@Malcolm – if only we’d had the good sense to keep up Hadrian’s Wall. Then they’d still be out of Scotland. It was those blasted Middle Ages when everything went into disrepair, except the castles… 😉
What Bruce says about Aboriginal Children is wrong and a myth – they were forcibly taken. You can read the stories and the history here http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/hreoc/stolen/stolen16.html
This is all very well-documented. Denial or justification of this is very strong however in Australia.
Rabbit Proof Fence came as news to most Australians.
There isn’t one memorial in the whole country.
Just clear up a few things. The Great Wall of China is not a complete wall, it’s more of a series of watch towers to keep out the Mongol hordes. The Dingo fence and Rabbit fence are complete fences, designed to keep out plague proportions of rabbits, and are constantly maintained year round by lone fencers each operating over about 500KM of fence each. It’s because of this completeness it is the longest wall in the world.
And, yes, it does mess with the ecosystem. Emus and kangaroos try to jump it and trip or get caught in the wire and die. But which is worse? A few dead emus, or a few billion rabbits turning our relatively fragile ecosystem into swiss cheese.
Oh yeah, wild dogs = tame, lol.
they say that the dingo fence is approximatley 5,600km….. when i search on google its says that it starts a Yalata and finishes near brisbane.if i’m wrong well please email me at [email protected] .