Species Introduced during Colonisation
Foxes in Victoria: From Colonial Release to Ecological Catastrophe
The European Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) was introduced to Victoria in the nineteenth century and quickly became one of the most destructive invasive predators in Australian history. Initially brought for sport hunting by settlers nostalgic for English traditions, foxes adapted rapidly to Australia’s open plains, forests, and farmland. Today, they are regarded as a major threat to native wildlife, contributing to the decline and extinction of many small to medium-sized mammals and ground-nesting birds (Saunders et al. 1995).
The story of foxes in Victoria reflects the intersection of colonial leisure, ecological upheaval, and cultural disruption. For Indigenous peoples, foxes symbolised another introduced force undermining Country, ecosystems, and traditional food sources.
Introduction to Victoria
The first successful introductions of foxes occurred in Victoria during the 1860s, near Melbourne and Geelong (Rolls 1969). Wealthy settlers deliberately released them to recreate the sport of fox hunting familiar to England’s landed gentry. Some of these estates lay on Wadawurrung Country, including those surrounding the Geelong district.
Within only a few decades, foxes spread across southern Victoria. By the late nineteenth century, they had extended into New South Wales and South Australia, reaching much of the continent by the early twentieth century (Coman 1999).
Foxes on Wadawurrung Country
The introduction of foxes directly affected Wadawurrung Country—plains, wetlands, and bushland that became key release sites.
Disruption of hunting grounds: Wadawurrung people had sustainably hunted wallabies, bandicoots, bettongs, and ground-dwelling birds for countless generations. Fox predation decimated these populations, directly threatening Indigenous food security.
Cultural impacts: The decline of native species also eroded cultural practices tied to hunting, storytelling, and ceremony. Ground-nesting birds like curlews and ducks—once abundant in wetlands such as Lake Connewarre—suffered immense losses due to fox predation (DELWP 2021).
Symbol of colonisation: To the Wadawurrung, foxes came to represent colonial arrogance—introduced purely for leisure, yet devastating to ecosystems and cultural lifeways.
Wadawurrung Stories and Oral History
Foxes had no place in Indigenous cosmology prior to colonisation. Their arrival compelled Wadawurrung and neighbouring nations to interpret their impacts within oral history and new cultural metaphors.
Curlews as warning voices: The bush stone-curlew, once common around wetlands, was culturally significant for its haunting night calls—often described as voices of spirit-beings. As foxes drove curlews into decline, Wadawurrung oral histories recorded the silencing of these voices as a sign of imbalance on Country.
Ducks and wetland food plants: The wetlands of Lake Connewarre and the Barwon River floodplains once provided rich harvests of ducks and aquatic plants. Fox predation on nests disrupted this ecological and cultural cycle. In storytelling, the decline of ducks became a symbol of the way introduced animals disrupted the reciprocal relationship between people and water Country.
Bettongs and digging animals: Bettongs, potoroos, and bandicoots were staple foods and vital “soil engineers,” whose digging aerated the ground and spread seeds. Wadawurrung families linked the disappearance of these marsupials to foxes, rabbits, and livestock. Oral accounts described Country “closing up,” with plants failing to grow where digging animals had once thrived.
Fox as a being of imbalance: Foxes were described in some oral narratives as “dogs without law”—predators that take without giving back, unlike dingoes, which hold spiritual and ecological authority as hunters and guardians. In this sense, the fox came to embody imbalance and the arrogance of its colonial introducers.
Through these stories, foxes were understood not just as ecological intruders, but as cultural ruptures—creatures whose presence reshaped the balance of life, food, and law on Country.
Ecological Impact
Predation on Native Wildlife
Foxes prey predominantly on small and medium-sized animals weighing between 35 g and 5.5 kg—the size range of many native marsupials. The decline or local extinction of bettongs, potoroos, bandicoots, bilbies, and quolls has been directly linked to fox predation (Saunders et al. 1995). Ground-nesting birds such as mallee fowl, bush stone-curlews, and ducks have also suffered severe population losses.
Synergy with Rabbits
Foxes flourished in landscapes already transformed by rabbits and grazing livestock. Rabbits provided a constant food source, sustaining fox populations even when native prey was depleted (Williams et al. 1995). This interdependence complicated pest control efforts—reducing rabbits often drove foxes to switch to native prey.
Agricultural Damage
Beyond their ecological toll, foxes attacked lambs and poultry, creating lasting conflict with farmers. From the late nineteenth century onward, rural reports described heavy livestock losses attributed to foxes (Coman 1999).
Colonial Attitudes and Control Measures
Sporting values: In early colonial decades, foxes were celebrated for hunting. Clubs organised elaborate hunts on horseback, echoing English gentry traditions (Rolls 1969).
Growing resentment: By the early twentieth century, attitudes shifted as foxes became recognised as pests threatening agriculture and biodiversity.
Bounty systems: The Victorian Government introduced statewide bounty schemes, paying for fox scalps. By the 1950s, hundreds of thousands were killed each year (Saunders et al. 1995).
Poisoning campaigns: Early use of strychnine, followed by the widespread adoption of sodium fluoroacetate (1080), became the dominant methods of control.
Enduring presence: Despite extensive programs, foxes remain entrenched across Victoria, with ongoing ecological and financial costs.
Indigenous Perspectives
For Indigenous communities across Victoria, the arrival of foxes epitomised ecological imbalance and the wider dislocation of Country caused by colonisation.
Loss of native food: Declines in marsupials and birds disrupted traditional diets and seasonal cycles.
Country in imbalance: Foxes joined a suite of invasive animals—rabbits, sheep, cattle—that reshaped landscapes and water systems.
Adaptation: Some Indigenous families hunted foxes for fur or pest control, yet foxes were never integrated into cultural law as native animals were.
Population Then and Now
At introduction (1860s): Foxes were entirely absent from Australia.
By 1900: They had spread across most of Victoria and southern Australia, sustained by rabbits and livestock (Williams et al. 1995).
Today: An estimated seven million foxes inhabit Australia, with large populations across Victoria (DELWP 2021). They are found in almost every environment except dense rainforest and the arid interior.
Symbolism and Meaning
For colonists: Foxes initially represented nostalgia, sport, and leisure. Over time, they came to symbolise rural hardship and pests to be eradicated.
For Indigenous peoples: Foxes embodied imbalance and dispossession—predators without law or place in Country. Unlike the dingo, they lacked ancestral or ecological legitimacy.
Today: Foxes stand as one of the clearest examples of the unintended consequences of colonial introduction—where a creature of nostalgia became an agent of ecological collapse.
Conclusion
The release of foxes into Victoria in the 1860s, an indulgence of colonial nostalgia, cascaded into one of the most significant ecological catastrophes on the continent. Their spread devastated native species, disrupted Indigenous cultural practices, and created enduring environmental and agricultural challenges.
For the Wadawurrung and other Victorian nations, foxes represent both ecological and cultural loss—a predator without place in the sacred order of Country, thriving at the expense of law, balance, and biodiversity. More than a pest, the fox remains a symbol of how a single colonial act can transform ecosystems and histories for generations.
References
Clark, I D 1990, Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900, Monash University, Melbourne.
Coman, B J 1999, Foxes, Kangaroo Press, Sydney.
Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) 2021, Invasive Species in Victoria: Red Fox, Victorian Government, Melbourne.
Rolls, E C 1969, They All Ran Wild: The Animals and Plants that Plague Australia, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Saunders, G, Coman, B, Kinnear, J & Braysher, M 1995, Managing Vertebrate Pests: Foxes, Bureau of Resource Sciences/CSIRO, Canberra.
Williams, K, Parer, I, Coman, B, Burley, J & Braysher, M 1995, Managing Vertebrate Pests: Rabbits, Bureau of Resource Sciences/CSIRO, Canberra.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (16 September 2025)
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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledges the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay respect to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples’ communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of their respective communities.