The Story: How Thomas Austin’s Christmas Release Came to Change a Continent

 On Christmas Day 1859 Thomas Austin, a settler at Barwon Park near Winchelsea in Victoria, released a small number of European wild rabbits on his estate so he could hunt them. At the time the gesture was presented as a harmless import of “a touch of home.” It wasn’t. Within a few decades these animals — and their descendants — would transform huge parts of Australia’s landscape. Defining Moments Digital Classroom+1

The historical facts (short)

• The classic account: Austin imported and released ~12–13 wild rabbits (and some domestic rabbits) in 1859 at Barwon Park. Contemporary reports show explosive local increases: by the mid-1860s thousands were being taken on the estate. Defining Moments Digital Classroom+1

• Why that small release mattered: rabbits reproduce quickly (multiple litters per year) and found vast new grazing habitat in Australia after large-scale land clearance. These biological and landscape factors turned a few animals into a continent-scale problem. MDPI+1

What modern genetics says

The old story became science in 2022. A genomic study that analysed rabbit DNA across Australia combined with historical records strongly supports the idea that a single, very small introduction — the Barwon Park release — was the primary trigger for the invasive population that spread across southern Australia. In short: the history-tale is real and the genetics back it up. PubMed+1

How rabbits spread so fast

Several reinforcing reasons explain the swift expansion from a few animals to an invasive scourge:

• High reproductive rate: rabbits breed prolifically and have short generation times.

• Empty niche & abundant forage: wide-scale clearing for grazing created ideal habitat and few natural predators in many regions.

• Human vectors and repeated introductions: domestic breeds and later translocations also added to the range expansion in some areas. Together these factors let rabbit numbers explode across temperate and semi-arid zones. MDPI+1

Quick timeline of spread (high level)

• 1859 — Austin release at Barwon Park (the key founding event). Defining Moments Digital Classroom

• 1860s–1900s — rapid spread across pastoral lands; local extirpation of vegetation and rising concern from graziers. Australian Food Timeline

• Early 1900s — fences and local control measures attempted (e.g., Rabbit-Proof Fence). CSIRO

Why the story still matters

The tale of Thomas Austin’s rabbits is not only a gripping historical anecdote — it’s a cautionary case study about how small human choices can trigger major ecological invasions. Modern genomics tied to archival research has made the account more than folklore: it’s a demonstrable fact that a small founding event was the seed of a continent-scale problem. PNAS