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Wire Fences in Colonial Australia: Technology Transfer and Adaptation, 1842–1900

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2010

JOHN PICKARD
JOHN PICKARD*
Affiliation:
Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

After reviewing the development of wire fencing in Great Britain and the United States of America in the early nineteenth century, I examine the introduction of wire into Australia using published sources only. Wire was available in the colonies from the early 1850s. The earliest published record of a wire fence was on Phillip Island near Melbourne (Victoria) in 1842. Almost a decade passed before wire was used elsewhere in Victoria and the other eastern colonies. Pastoralists either sought information on wire fences locally or from agents in Britain. Local agents of British companies advertised in colonial newspapers from the early 1850s, with one exceptional record in 1839. Once wire was adopted, pastoralists rejected iron posts used in Britain, preferring cheaper wood posts cut from the property. The most significant innovation was to increase post spacings with significant cost savings. Government and the iron industry played no part in these innovations, which were achieved through trial-and-error by pastoralists. The large tonnages of wire imported into Australia and the increasing demand did not stimulate local production of wire, and there were no local wire mills until 1911.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , April 2010 , pp. 27 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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